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^OAKWOOD.e^ 



THE 

HISTORY, INCORPORATION, 

RULES AND REGULATIONS 



0AKW00D CEMETERY, 

AT SYRACUSE, N. Y., 



TOGETHER WITH THE 



DEDICATION ODES AND ADDRESSES, 



WITH OTHER PAPERS. 



SYRACUSE: 

J. G. K. TRUAIR A CO., PRINTERS, JOURNAL OFFICE. 
1860. 



OFFICERS: 
E. W. LEAVENWORTH, ..... President. 

A. C. POWELL, Vice President. 

HAMILTON WHITE, Treasurer. 

ALLEN MUNROE, - - Secretary. 



TRUSTEES: 



JOHN WILKINSON, 
JOHN GROUSE, 
AUSTIN MYERS, 
ROBERT G. WYNKOOP, 
J. DEAN HAWLEY, 



ARCHIBALD C. POWELL, E. W. LEAVENWORTH 



HAMILTON WHITE, 
ALLEN MUNROE, 
TIMOTHY R. PORTER, 
J. P. HASKIN, 
THOMAS G. ALVORD, 



HAMILTON WHITE, 
AC. POWELL, [ Executive 

J. DEAN HAWLEY, [ Committee. 

E. W. LEAVENWORTH, (Ex. Officio,) j 



HOWARD DANIELS, Engineer and Landscape Gardener. 



Sup't and Keeper of the Grounds. 



PREFACE 



INTERMENTS IN SYRACUSE. 

The first white person who was buried within the limits of 
the city of Syracuse, and probably within the bounds of On- 
ondaga, was undoubtedly Benjamin Nukerk, who came into 
the country as an Indian trader, with Ephraim Webster, in 
1<S6, before any settlements were made on the Military Res- 
ervation, and who died here on the Tth day of December, 1787. 

He was buried on a pleasant little eminence, which over- 
looks the Onondaga Lake and its shores, now embraced in 
Farm Lot No. 298 or 310, and lying directly in the rear of 
the residence of William Judson, on West Genesee Street, 
and one or two hundred feet east of Geddes Street. The 
head and foot stones are both still standing and in excellent 
preservation, and the inscription is quite legible. It is as fol- 
lows : — 

BENJAMIN NUKERK, 
Died Dec. 7th, 1787, 
Aged 37 years. 
He is undoubtedly the same person who is called Selkirk in 
Mr. Clark's History of Onondaga, (Vol. 1st, p. 338). Mr. 
Clark is also in an error in supposing he succeeded Mr. Web- 
ster in 1793, (Vol. 2d, p. S3). The grave is probably on Farm 
Lot No. 310, which is in the town of Geddes. 

About the year 1S15, Joseph Savage, Esq., who owns the 
ground occupied by this grave— had occasion to dig a trench 
two or three feet below the surface, and while doing so struck 



OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

upon a line of graves. On examination they proved to be 
placed in a direct line for some twenty or thirty feet, and 
consisted of quite a number of bodies. ' The bones were most- 
ly decomposed, except the skulls, and among them were 
found quite a number of bullets. Probably the ground was 
never used as a permanent burial place, but these bodies fell 
in some battle, of which perhaps we have no record, and 
were hastily buried here in the sandy loam of this beautiful 
little eminence. But it may be otherwise, as he at other 
times found other remains in different places on the same 
little hillock — one — the skull of which had evidently been 
cleft by a tomahawk. A gun, brass kettle, flints and pipes 
were also found from time to time. The bodies were found 
mostly near the south-east corner of the knoll, about two 
hundred feet east of the large pine tree now standing. Origi- 
nally there was quite a bluff at this point, which has been 
levelled down by carrying away loam and sand. 

The first burials in the village of Salina were made on 
ground now known as Lot No. 8 in Block No. 15, near the 
intersection of Spring and Free Streets. They however ceas- 
ed to bury there before 1794, and began to make interments 
on the ground now embraced in Washington Park, and near 
to the spot where the Presbyterian Church, (recently remov- 
ed,) was afterwards built. Mrs. Nancy T. Gilchrist, the mo- 
ther of tlie present Ira A. Gilchrist, and several members of 
the families of Dexter and Herring, were buried here, — Mrs. 
Gilchrist in 1794. 

Burials were made here also but for a few years, when find- 
ing the location too near the dwellings they began to bury 
upon the ridge which runs through Block No. 40, in the rear 
of the residence of James Lynch, Esq., and in the immedi- 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 7 

ate vicinity of that formerly occupied by the late Alfred 
Northarn, Esq. 

This, too, was abandoned in 1801, when Sheldon Logan, 
at that time Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, 
laid out a piece of ground, then owned by the State for a 
public burial ground. It was used as such until the year 
1829, and a few of the bodies buried on Washington Park, 
including that of Mrs. Gilchrist, and perhaps some from 
Block No. 40, were removed to the new grounds. Block No. 
59, in the First Ward, covers the site of the grounds laid out 
by Mr. Logan. 

In the year 1829, the Legislature passed an Act, (Chap. 
243,) vesting said Block No. 59 tn the Trustees of the village 
of Salina, authorizing the sale of Block No. 43 to said Trus- 
tees for the purpose of a public cemetery, and directing said 
Trustees to prepare said Block No. 43 for the purposes in- 
tended, to remove all the bodies from Block 59, and to sell 
the same at public auction. All the expenses of the pur- 
chase, the preparation and improvement of the ground, and 
the removal of the bodies, were to be paid from the proceeds 
of the sale of Block No. 59. 

This law was immediately carried out in all its parts. — 
Block 59 was sold, after the removal of the bodies, and Block 
No. 43 has been used as a cemetery from that time till the 
present; and now nearly or quite all the lots have been ta- 
ken up and occupied. 

Perhaps it may not be amiss to state in this connection 
that Isaac Yan Yleck, Esq , the father of the late Matthew 
Yan Yleck, formerly Inspector of the Salt Springs, and of 
the present Abraham Yan Yleck, the first male child born 
within the limits of the city, and also of Mrs. George O'Blen- 



8 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

nis, was buried on Lot No. 8, Block No. 13, on what was 
then and is still known as the Schouten Lot. 

In the year 1834, previous to the Act of the Legislature 
(Chapter 160 of the Laws of 1835) incorporating Lodi with the 
village of Syracuse, the inhabitants of that locality established 
a small cemetery on Beach Street, on the top of the hill south 
of East Genesee Street, on Farm Lot No. 197. The late Oliver 
Teall, Esq., who then held a contract for the lot, furnished the 
land and offered an acre of ground or more if desired, on con- 
dition that the people in that vicinity would clear and fence. 
They hired a Mr. Bates to do the clearing and fencing. But 
about half an acre has ever been enclosed and that is now most- 
ly occupied. Few interments have been made there of late 
years. Some bodies have been removed, and the place has been 
much neglected, and, if not already, will soon be abandoned. 

The first burials within the limits of the late village of 
Syracuse, were made on land now enclosed in Block No. 
105, near the intersection of Clinton and Fayette streets. 
They probably did not exceed twenty or thirty in number, and 
the citizens ceased to bury there previous to the year 1819. 

When Messrs. Owen, Forman, and John Wilkinson laid 
out the village of Milan, in 1819, and made a map of the 
same, no spot of ground seems to have been set apart for a 
cemetery, but the recent loss of that map precludes entire 
certainty on that point. At least, from that time till the 
year 1824, all burials were made at Salina, Onondaga Hiil, 
or Onondaga Hollow. The first person buried in what is 
now designated as the "Old Cemetery" (being the east end 
of Block No. 98), was Mrs. Eliza Spencer, the first wife of 
the present Thomas Spencer, Esq., who died on the 2nd day 
of April, 1824. After the village passed into the hands of 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. V 

the late Syracuse Company, they probably set apart this piece 
of ground for a cemetery ; and it continued to be used as 
such until the year 1841. 

At a meeting of the Trustees of the village, held on the 
10th day of May, 1841, Hiram Putnam, Esq., being Presi- 
dent, a resolution was adopted, to call a public meeting, to 
be held on the 18th day of May, then instant, " To take 
" into consideration the propriety of raising money for a 
" public cemetery for said village." 

On the 11th day of May, the President and Clerk of the 
village published a call for." a meeting of the taxable inhab- 
k ' itants of the village of Syracuse." 

The meeting was held on the lSth; adjourned from the 
Mansion House to the fourth story of the New Banking 
House — oyer the Onondaga County Bank and Bank of Syr- 
acuse. Elihu L. Phillips, Esq., offered a resolution for the 
purchase of parts of Farm Lots Nos. 128 and 212— the same 
premises recently embraced in Rose Hill Cemetery — con- 
taining 22 T ££- acres. 

It was very well understood, in advance, that it was in- 
tended to purchase this property, and there was a verj strong 
opposition to it. The soil was considered unfavorable and 
the location undesirable. The purchase was strongly urged 
by Philo K Rust, Andrew K Yan Patten, John H. Johnson, 
Amos P. Granger, and others. It was resisted equally stren- 
uously by Aaron Burt, Lyman Clary, Henry Gifford, Wm. 
B. Kirk, Thos. Rose, John Wilkinson, and others. 

The resolution was discussed at great length— various 
amendments were offered and rejected, and the original resolu- 
tion finally passed. 

On the 27th of the same month, in compliance with a peti- 



10 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

tion signed by many citizens, the Trustees ordered another 
meeting of the taxable inhabitants, at the same place, on the 
4th day of June, then next, " to consider the business in 
" regard to a new cemetery." 

At the meeting of June 4th Thos. Rose, Esq., offered a 
resolution to rescind all the proceedings of May 18th in 
regard to the new cemetery. The subject had excited a deep 
interest in the village, and had called together the great body 
of the leading citizens. The resolution to rescind wa> de- 
bated at great length, and finally rejected by a vote of 7-9 to 
57. The names of those voting and the way they voted will 
be found in Appendix " F." 

On motion of Gen. Granger, two hundred dollars were 
voted at the same meeting for the improvement of the grounds. 

This property was conveyed to the Trustees of the village 
by George F. Leitch and Catharine K. his wife, under date 
of July 1st, 1841, (Book No. 78 of Deeds, page 452), and the 
Trustees proceeded at once to the improvement of the grounds. 
Ambrose S. Tuwnsend, who died on the 24th day of August, 
1841, was the first person buried at Rose Hill. He was the 
oldest son of John Townsend, Esq., of Albany, and grandson 
of the late Ambrose Spencer. 

This ground has been occupied till the present time, but 
has never been satisfactory to a large portion of our citizens. 

It has always been evident that, owing to the proximity of 
the ground to the city, it ought never to have been used for 
the purpose of a cemetery. 

The subsoil, which is a firm, tenacious clay, and full of 
water in the Spring and Fall, constituted another very serious, 
and, to many, insuperable objection. 

And, in addition to this, the surface of the ground was 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 



11 



unfavorable, more than one-half of it being a steep side hill, 
and not easily accessible, and the whole of it was devoid of 
Trees and Shrubs, and incapable of being ever made beauti- 
ful or attractive. 

Our citizens had never manifested any great interest in the 
grounds. They were never a source either of pride or 
pleasure. Little effort was ever made to adorn or improve 
them. They were by many deemed incapable of those high 
adornments which the public taste now demands. No doubt 
the city officials have often, if not generally, sympathized in 
those views and feelings. 

For these, and perhaps other reasons, an early desire was 
manifested by many of our citizens to procure grounds for a 
cemetery more in conformity to the higher cultivation of 
modern taste on this subject. 

As early as the years 1852-3 a number of meetings were 
held by a few prominent citizens, and the subject of a new 
Cemetery fully discussed and considered. Committees were 
appointed for the purpose of thoroughly examining the vicin- 
ity of the city, in all directions, and finding the locality best 
adapted in all respects for the purposes of a rural cemetery. 
Those committees carefully performed their duty, and after 
a most critical examination of the vicinity of the town for 
the distance of several miles in all directions, they came 
unanimously to the conclusion that the hundred acres of land 
best fitted for all the purposes desired, was that now embraced 
within the limits of Oakwood. 

But our hopes were not then destined to be realized. No 
oue seemed willing to put himself at the head of the enter- 
prise, and assume all the labor and responsibility which that 
position necessarily imposes. Winter came on soon after 



12 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

the final conclusion was ai rived at, in regard to the grounds , 
and before the following Spring it was for the time forgotten 
in the pursuit of other objects of more pressing personal 
interest. 

The persons who most particularly interested themselves 
in the effort of 1852-3, were Messrs. Henry A. Dillaye, 
Charles B. Sedgwick, John B. Burnet, Eobert B. Kaymond, 
Charles Pope, Hamilton White, A. C. Powell, C. Tyler 
Longstreet, Israel Hall, John Wilkinson, Allen Munroe, and 
E. W. Leavenworth. 

The subject was again revived in the Summer of 1857, by 
Messrs. Hamilton White, James L. Bagg, Lewis H. Red- 
lield, C. Tyler Longstreet, A. C. Powell, John Wilkinson 
and Henry A. Dillaye. The papers were drawn up prepar- 
atory to the organization of an Association — the terms of 
the purchase of the grounds above referred to were verbally 
agreed upon, when the whole subject was suddenly put to 
rest by the great pecuniary revulsion of that year. 

A final and eventually successful effort was again made 
in the Summer of 1858, principally by Messrs. White and 
Leavenworth. This was continued with little interruption 
till the Summer of 1859. 

Having arranged with Chas. A. Baker, Esq., for the pur- 
chase of the front twenty acres, and with Henry Raynor, 
Esq., for the balance of the ground, the first object to which 
attention was directed, was the removal of the Jamesville 
Plank .Road from the bounds of the proposed cemetery. It 
became necessary to procure the consent of a majority of 
the stockholders, and then of a majority of the directors — 
afterwards of a majority of the inhabitants residing on the 
East and West Road, crossing the said Plank Road near its 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 13 

first gate, to which the road was to be changed — next of the 
Supervisor and Commissioners of Highways of the Town of 
Onondaga, in which Town the road is situated — and finally, 
to procure a right of way for said Plank Koad across the 
lands of Chas. A. Baker, Esq., and Dr. David S. Oolvin. 
After a year of laborious effort, and with the benefit of 
much aid from Mr. Baker, these several objects were succes- 
sively attained, and all serious obstacles to the final accom- 
plishment of our object seemed to be removed, except the 
raising of the necessary funds for the purchase. To that 
important service A. C. Powell, Esq., for weeks, devoted a 
large portion of his time, and with such aid as he had from 
Messrs. Hawley, White and Leavenworth, succeeded early 
in August in raising the necessary amount in subscriptions, 
payable equally in one, two and three years, with interest. 
[See copy of Subscription, Appendix E.] 

On the 15th day of August, 1859, the subscribers to the 
fund, in pursuance of a circular addressed to them severally, 
met at the Mayor's office and organized the Association of 
Oakwood, and elected the following Trustees : 

Hamilton White, Allen Munroe, 

J. P. Haskins, Timothy E. Porter, 

John Crouse, Robert G. Wynkoop, 

John Wilkinson, J. Dean Hawley, 

Archibald C. Powell, Thomas G. Alvord, 

Austin Myers, E. W. Leavenworth. 

[See Articles of Association in Appendix, letter D.] 

On the day following a meeting of the Trustees was held 
at the office of E. W. Leavenworth, and the following offi- 
cers were chosen : 



14 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 



E. W. Leavenworth, President. 
A. C. Powell, Vice " 

Hamilton White, Treasurer. 
Allen Munroe, Secretary. 

At the same meeting, a resolution was adopted on motion 
of Mr. Alvord, instructing the officers of the Association to 
purchase of Messrs. Baker & Raynor the lands now embraced 
in Oakwood on the terms theretofore agreed upon, viz, : 
$9,500 for the twenty acres in front bought of Mr. Baker, 
and $15,000 for the 72 r \\ acres, bought of Mr. Payn'or, in 
the rear. 

Agreeably to such resolution, the purchase was made and 
papers exchanged on the fifth day of September thereafter. 

All the lots in Rose Hill Cemetery, and also in that at 
Salina, having been sold, and the Common Council having 
resolved to sell the north eight acres of the former, the- Trus- 
tees made immediate preparations for the improvement of 
the grounds, and early in October, Howard Daniels, Esq., an 
accomplished landscape gardener from the city of New York, 
with the aid of fifty or sixty men, commenced the work, and 
continued it till the month of December. 

The first person buried at Oakwood was Mrs. Nellie G. 
Williamson, who died on the 6th, and was buried on Tuesday, 
the 8th day of November, 1859. 

The first monument of any kind erected within the bounds 
of the cemetery, was that of James Crouse, Esq., on Section No. 
13, put up during the winter of 1859-60. 

On the 14th day of November the first public sale of Lots 
took place, and from that day to the first day of February 
following, more than seven thousand dollars' worth of Lots 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 15 

were selected, and but a small part, even of the subscribers, 
had then made their selections. 

Thus, at length, after nearly ten years of delays and diffi- 
culties and disappointments, after the project had been more 
than once abandoned, and our hopes all but extinguished, 
this lovely spot of ground was secured for the final repose of 
our dead : to be visited, admired, and hallowed in our mem- 
ories, while we live, by a thousand sacred and tender recol- 
lections, and to be the beautiful resting place of our bodies 
when summoned to our final homes. 



DEDICATION. 



On Thursday, the 3rd day of November, the grounds were 
dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, to the sacred pur- 
poses of a resting place for the dead. 

The Hon. Win. J. Bacon, of Utica, kindly consented, to 
deliver the Address, Alfred B. Street, the Poem, and the Rev. 
John Pierpont, of Boston, and Mrs. Thos. T. Davis, to furnish 
each an Ode. » 

The occasion was one of deep interest to the citizens of 
Syracuse, and many thousands testified their appreciation of 
the importance of the object attained, by their presence on 
the ground. The day, which was lowery and threatening 
in the morning, became bright and beautiful, and one of the 
pleasantest of the season. 

The following was the Order of Exercises published on the 
occasion : 

DEDICATION OF OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 
The Trustees of "Oakwood" have the pleasure of announcing to the 
citizens of Syracuse, that Thursday, Novemler 3rd, 1859, has been desig- 
nated as the day for the opening of Oakwood Cemetery. 

The Military, Fire Department, and Civic Associations, have been 
invited to participate in the ceremonies of the ocaasion. 

The procession will be formed at 10£ o'clock a. m., under the direction 
of Gen. Robt. M. Richardson, assisted by the 24th Brigade Staff, in the 
following order: 

Gen. R. M. Richardson, Chief Marshal; 

miller's regimental band; 

51st Regiment N. Y. S. M., under command of Col. Walrath; 



OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 17 

samsel's band; 

Fire Department, under direction of B. L. Higgins, Chief Engineer, and 

Assistant Engineers ; 

Fire Department Benevolent Association; 

German Mechanics' Association ; 

St. Joseph's Society; 

Young Men's Christian Association ; 

Sutherland's band. 

Lodges of Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; 

Cynosure Encampment, I. 0. 0. F. ; 

Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons; 

Chapter of Royal Arch Masons ; 

Commandery of Knights Templar; 

Directors of Franklin Institute ; 

Board of Education ; 

Mayor and Common Council; 

Orator and Poet; 

Officiating Clergy ; 

Trustees of Oakwood Cemetery. 

The procession will march to Oakwood Cemetery, where the following 

exercises will take place : 

Music — by Miller's Regimental Band. 

Prayer — by Rev. Mr. Strieby. 

Vocal Music — by Syracuse Musical Institute. 

Introductory Remarks — by Hon. E. W. Leavenworth, President of 

Oakwood Cemetery. 
Poem— by Alfred B. Street, Esq. 
Music — by Sutherland's Band. 
Oration — by Hon. Wm. J. Bacon. 
Odk — written for the occasion, by Rev. John Pierpont, — read by Rev. 

W. W. Newell, D. D. 
Benediction — by Rev. George Morgan Hills. 
After the services at Oakwood Cemetery, the procession will again form 
under the direction of the Chief Marshal, and march to Ciinton Square, 
where it will be dismissed. 

The procession was formed about 11 A. M., on Salina 
street, in front of the Syracuse House, under the direction of 
Gen'l Eob't M. Richardson, and immediately took up the line 
of march for Oakwood. A spacious platform had been 
erected for the occasion, for the accommodation of the Ora- 
tors, Poet, Clergy, Trustees, and other gentlemen, in Dedi- 
cation Valley, directly north of the west end of Section No. 
13, and seats for the audience on the side of the hill directly 

north of the platform. 
2 



18 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

The exercises were opened by Miller's Regimental Band^ 
with the "Dead March" in Saul. At the conclusion, the 
Rev. M. E. Striebv offered the following 



PRAYER: 

Almighty God, thou author of our existence, and in whose 
hands is the breath of our lives, we come together this 
morning to dedicate and to consecrate these grounds to a 
sacred purpose. The natures which thou hast implanted 
within us prompt us to a kind care, and suitable burial of 
the bodies of our departed friends, and Thy Holy Word 
sanctifies and sanctions these desires ; for thou didst approve 
the anointing which Mary gave for Thy burial, and the 
embalming and interment which sorrowing friends gave to 
Thy body. So in this consecrated spot, we can bring our 
friends, from time to time, to lay them here, and at length 
we shall all be borne to the earth in this holy sepulchre, or 
some other resting place of the dead. Grant that in the 
dedication we make of this consecrated ground, we may be 
accepted ; and finally, when the trumpet of the Archangel 
shall sound, and this ground shall give up its dead, and all 
the earth shall open up her receptacles, do thou then grant, 
Heavenly Father, to take us to that resting place where there 
shall be no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more death ; 
and to the Eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, shall 
be the praise and the glory forever more. Amen. 

The Re.v. Mr. Fillmore was here introduced and read the 
following beautiful Hymn, written for the occasion by Mrs. 
Thomas T. Davis, of this city. 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 19 

HYMN. 

BY MRS. THOMAS T. DAVIS. 

Air — PleyeVs Hymn, 
Life and Love with tender hand 
Guard and deck this Silent Land ; 
Cypress arch and willow wreath 
Shade the sacred sod beneath ; 
Sun and starlight gild the shrine, 
Flow'ry chaplets fondly twine ; 
Angel hosts, your vigils keep * 
Where our loved and lost shall sleep. 

Loved, not lost ! No fear nor gloom 
Shrouds the portal of the tomb ; 
Death revealed immortal daj r 
When the Rock was rolled away. 
Grave and crypt and pallid stone 
Mark not the realm of Death alone ; 
Life but sleeps, while Death survives, — 
Death shall die, and Life arise. 

Shed not then the frenzied tear ; 
Robe in light the pall, the bier ; 
Yonder see the shining shore 
Where our loved have gone before; 
Rear the marble o 1 er the dead, 
Crown with flowers the dreamless head ; 
Calmly wait till Life shall be 
Blended with eternity. 

This Hymn was then sung by the members of the Syra- 
cuse Musical Institute, under the leadership of H. H". 
White, Esq. 

The Hon. E. W. Leavenworth, President of the Cemeteiy 
Association, then came forward and delivered the introduc- 
tory address, as follows : 

Ladies and Fellow Citizens: — 

We are assembled here this day upon an occasion of 
absorbing interest. Our long cherished hopes, so often 



20 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

overclouded, so often deferred, are this day realized. Our 
highest anticipations are more than fulfilled. 

We are convened here this morning that with appropriate 
ceremonies, and with becoming solemnity, we may set apart 
the loveliest spot upon the Banks of the Onondaga, as the 
final resting-place of our beloved and honored dead. We 
have come together to consecrate for ourselves, a dwelling 
for these mortal bodies, when the labors and cares, and trials 
of life are over, and the spirit has ascended to God who 
gave it. 

How long, with anxious eyes, has this day been looked 
for ! Through how many years of hope and doubt, and 
fear — of efforts and disappointments, have we struggled on, 
that at length we might enter upon this promised land ! 
But hope is now fruition, and this occasion is the joyful evi- 
dence of our full success. 

An ample, permanent and attractive resting place for our 
dead, seems to be the last great necessity of our city. Water 
and gas— railroads and canals — a salubrious climate — a fer- 
tile soil — prosperous agriculture, commerce, and manufac- 
tures, have supplied the great wants of our town — filled our 
laps with plenty and made our homes the abodes of happi- 
ness and peace. But while laboring so diligently and suc- 
cessfully for the wants of the living, we had forgotten what 
was due to the dying and the dead. No adequate, suitable 
or permanent provision .had been made for their repose. 

All our present cemeteries are inadequate in their dimen- 
sions, entirely unsuitable in their location and the character 
of their soils, and it is perhaps not too much to say, that 
when the friends of those who now rest in them have passed 
away, they must yield to the onward and irresistible pro- 



OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 



21 



gress of population and improvement. The fate of those 
similarly situated in other cities, and even in our own, warn 
us of the inevitable result. 

Bat fortunately, onr long delay has not, in this instance, 
proved our ruin. Fortunately, almost providentially, we 
have been able to secure the spot of ground which nature 
seems to have intended for the purpose to which we now 
dedicate it. Although but a mile and a half from the cen- 
tre of our city, looking down from each successive elevation 
upon the town, the lake and the lovely valley of the Onon- 
daga, happily the hand of improvement, till now, had never 
reached it. A variety of circumstances had preserved it in 
all the loveliness of nature, for the final home of many gen- 
erations yet unborn. 

Within its one hundred acres is embraced a combination 
of attractions which, if anywhere equalled, are no where 
surpassed. Placed most fortunately, not too near the city, 
nor too remote from it, mostly covered with young and 
thrifty woods of the second growth, so abundant as to allow 
great opportunity for selection — its surface diversified by 
the most beautiful and varied elevations and depressions, 
presenting views unrivalled in their extent and their mag- 
nificence — rendered already attractive by natural lawns, and 
the most picturesque scenery, it is all that the highest judg- 
ment and taste can demand, or the liveliest fancy paint. — 
And the careful hand of improvement will, each successive 
year, develop and heighten the charms with which nature 
has so liberally adorned it. 

Each loved form, committed by pious hands to its sacred 
dust, will invest its quiet vales and hill-sides with a yearly 
increasing interest, until each one of us shall have some 



22 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

tender tie to lead us often hither, and until we ourselves, 
now in the vigor of health, shall be permitted, beneath these 
lovely shades, to return to our kindred dust. 

From this day these grounds will be annually improved 
by graded and graveled walks and avenues — by smiling 
lawns and quiet winding paths beneath the shadows of the 
towering oaks — enriched and adorned by sculptured mar- 
bles, and the various testimonials which wealth and affection 
will yearly consecrate to virtue and loveliness — hallowed 
more and more as years speed on in their tireless course, by 
the holiest feelings of the soul, by memories and emotions 
which find a home in every human heart. Soon the mortal 
remains of thousands among us, who are now walking our 
streets, arrayed in the beauty of health, shall slumber be- 
neath her holy, quiet breast. Increasing thousands will an- 
nually seek the silence of this holy ground. Hither the 
busy, struggling world will often come to enjoy, for a time, 
the balmy breath of Heaven — to commune with nature in 
her loveliest forms, and in these secluded retreats to forget 
for an hour the toils and cares of life. Hither the stranger 
will direct his course, to mark the evidence and the standard 
of our civilization. Hither age, with tottering steps, will 
sometimes come to view the spot where he must shortly lie. 
Here, too, at evening's silent hour — wrapped in sable weeds 
— quiet and alone, the widow, the mother — the desolate and 
bereaved of every name — will wend their way with slow 
and solemn tread and saddened hearts, to drop another tear 
over the graves of those they loved. 

From whatever point of view we regard this enterprise, 
we are compelled to contemplate it as one of surpassing in- 
terest and importance to the citizens of Syracuse, and well 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 23 

may we who are here assembled this day, congratulate our- 
selves, if in any humble degree, even, we have contributed 
to the accomplishment of an object so desirable to the living. 
so respectful to the dead. 

The first serious efforts for the establishment of a Eural 
Cemetery in this, city, were made in the years 1852-3. Sev- 
eral meetings were held and were well attended. Commit- 
tees were appointed to view the adjacent country and find 
suitable grounds. After a very thorough examination, those 
committees reported, and it was generally, if not unani- 
mously conceded, that the grounds we now occupy were the 
most desirable in the vicinity of the city. But after reach- 
ing this point, the enterprise was permitted to sleep — mainly, 
I think, for the reason that no one seemed willing to put 
himself at the head of the effort necessary to accomplish the 
result. 

It was again revived in 185T with renewed zeal. The 
price of the land was agreed upon, all the necessary papers 
were drawn, preparatory to a final organization, when the 
great financial revulsion of that year arrested the enterprise. 

Fifteen months since, in the summer of 1558, a few of the 
gentlemen who had heretofore interested themselves in this 
matter again met, and resolved to renew the effort. Num- 
berless difficulties seemed to surround them. 

Several months were consumed before we obtained a sat- 
isfactory offer for the sale of the lands. 

The Plank Road, passing through the grounds, was con- 
sidered, and very properly, an insuperable objection, and 
one which must be removed before the purchase was con- 
summated. Much delay and some difficulty was experi- 
enced in procuring the consent of the stockholders and di- 



24 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

rectors of said road — in obtaining the sanction of such 
removal from the Town Officers of the Town of Onondaga 
-r— in procuring the new right of way which said removal 
made necessary, and more than all, in raising the $25,000 
which was required to make the purchase. But patience 
and perseverance met with their accustomed reward. The 
enterprise was regarded with favor and liberally treated by 
the bulk of our citizens, and I am happy here, in this public 
manner, to acknowledge our obligations to the stockholders 
and directors of the Jamesville Plank Road Company, and 
to the Supervisor and Commissioners of the Town of Onon- 
daga, as well as to many other gentlemen, w T ho fully appre- 
ciated the value of the object which we had in view, and 
contributed to its accomplishment. 

Fifteen months have seen every obstacle removed ; the 
association organized, the lands purchased, and the work of 
improvement moving rapidly forward, under the guidance 
and direction of Mr. Howard Daniels, of the city of New 
York, an accomplished landscape gardener, whose large ex- 
perience and cultivated taste will develope all its beauties, 
and render Oakwood the pride and the pleasure of even- 
citizen of Syracuse. 



At the conclusion of Mayor Leavenworth's address, Alfred 
B. Street, Esq., of Albany, pronounced the following exqui- 
sitely beautiful and appropriate 

POEM: 

O'er life's fresh springtide, when the blithesome hours 
Dance to glad music through perennial flowers ; 
O'er bounding youth, when hope points ever on, 
No blossom scentless, and no color wan : 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 25 

O'er stately manhood, when the mounting tread 
Seeks the far prize that stars the crag o'erhead ; 
O'er trembling age, when, worn with toil and woe, 
It turns from light above to gloom below ; 
Darkens a shade, mysterious, cold and black, 
Mantling the flowery as the wintry track ; 
Brooding where joy its diamond goblet quaffs ; 
Where daring, loud at every danger laughs ; 
Where strength securely rests on future years ; 
Where fame, wealth, pleasure, each its votary cheers ; 
Death is that shade, inexorable Death, 
With ever lifted dart at all of mortal breath. 

But though the soul that lights the frame depart, 

The darkened dust is sacred to the heart. 

Around the spot that wraps the dead from sight, 

Lingers thought's tenderest, love's divinest light ; 

Hallowed by suffering, it remains a shrine 

Where oft sad memory wends, its fairest flowers to twine. 

The land that trod through Deluge-ooze its way, 

Gave to the pyramid its mummied clay. 

The purple skies of Art and Song inurned 

The sacred ashes sacred fires had burned. 

The Parsee offered to his God, the sun, 

On the grand crag the heart whose course was run. 

And the red roamer of the prairie sea 

Yields to the air his wrecked mortality. 

But not to pyramid, though mocking Time, 

The urn funereal, nor the sun sublime, 

Nor boundless air, nor yet the waste of waves, 

That stateliest, mightiest, most august of graves— 

But yet in such drear weltering vastness spread 

Should Christian hands consign the Christian dead. 

But to the earth, the warm, the steadfast earth, 

That, touched by God's own finger, gave us birth ; 

Where to the resurrecting sun and rain 

The seed but perishes to live again ; 

Where Nature hides her life in Winter's gloom 

For warbling Spring to sing it into bloom ; 

Home of the tree that sheds its leafy showers 

For the new garland wreathed by vernal hours ! 



26 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Home of the priceless fount ! the matchless gem ! 
The precious gold ! more precious grainy stem ! 
Yea, as we woke to life upon her breast, 
Her loving arms should fold our last and longest rest. 

And thus, oh lovely Oakwood, shalt thou spread 
Thy sylvan chambers, for the slumbering dead. 
Through thy green landscapes shall Affection stray, 
Weep the wild tear, with softened sadness pray. 
Within the glen, as murmurings fill the tree, 
A voice shall seem to whisper, " Come with me !" 
And the green hill top — whence the sight is fraught, 
With the rich painting Nature's hand hath wrought ; 
Woodland and slope, mount, meadow and ravine, 
The city's white, the water's purple sheen, 
And the dim mountain tops, until the gaze 
Pierces where distance hangs its tender haze — 
Tell that the soul, with onward pointed eye, 
Finds its far limit only in the sky. 
The grassy dingle and the leafy dell 
Shall tremble sadly to the tolling bell ; 
Where now wide solitude wraps slope and glade 
For winds to pipe to dancing sun and shade, 
Shall carved memorials of the dead be found 
Breathing their solemn eloquence around. 
Here, shall the son, in some prone trunk, descry 
The sire he saw in life's completeness die ; 
Here, shall the sire, in some green pine, survey 
The stately son, ere death had claimed its prey ; 
Here, in the flower, the mother again shall see 
The laughing child that perished at her knee ; 
Here, the weird wind shall with long, melting moan, 
Mingle its sadness with the mourner's own, 
And the drear cloud, low brooding, seem a part 
Of the dark sorrow hanging on his heart ; 
Here, too, the joyful splendor of the sun 
Shall tell the life, the loved and lost hath won, 
And warblings sweet, the landscape's ear that fill 
Of those glad strains the sounding heavens that thrill. 
Summer shall here hold green and leafy time, 
Emblem of those that perished in their prime ; 
Autumn shall shower its wreaths upon the air, 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 27 

Sign to the living also to prepare ; 

Winter shall spread in fierce and frowning might, 

Great type of death, its chilling robes of white ; 

But oh, glad thought ! in Spring's triumphant reign 

Nature shall bound in radiant joy again, 

Bid with her rapturous life Death's horrors flee, 

Type of that glorious truth — Man's Immortality. 

Music by Sutherland's Band. 

The Hon. Wm. J. Bacon, of Utica, was now introduced, 
and delivered the 

ORATION. 

We have assembled this day, my friends, to perform a 
grateful and pious- duty. It is to consecrate, by fitting cere- 
monies, and appropriate memorials, a new place of burial 
for the dead, another abode where the wearied spirit and the 
exanimate body may lie down and rest. To the living it 
should be a grateful duty, for thereby our hearts become 
chastened and purified, and our eager chase after the things 
that perish modified, if not arrested. It is pious toward the 
dead, in the preparation we make for their secure and pleas- 
ant repose, when the storms of life have ceased to beat, and 
by '•' garnishing their sepulchres," we bring back to our re- 
membrance the forms and characters of those loved and de- 
parted ones whom we expect to deposit here. 

Care of, and respect for the dead, would seem to be a nat- 
ural and spontaneous instinct of the human heart, but its 
manifestations are by no means uniform. In its higher de- 
velopments it is the out-growth of civilization and refine- 
ment, aided or repressed by the view a community is accus- 
tomed to take of the sanctity of life, the solemnity of death, 
and the things that follow after that last mortal change. 



28 0AKW00D CEMETERY. 

Perhaps the earliest record we have of a transaction by 
which the ashes of the dead were secure of a resting place^ 
and the title thereto assured in perpetuity to the purchaser 
and his descendants, is derived from the narrative of the 
sacred historian in Genesis. It was while Abraham yet dwelt 
as a stranger and sojourner in the land which was subse- 
quently confirmed to his posterity as the promised inheritance) 
that he lost the wife of his youth, the honored mother of that 
son in whom his seed was to be called. They had dwelt long 
and lovingly together. In all his wanderings — when, obeying , 
the Divine command, he departed from his country, and his 
kindred, and his father's house, — she had been his faithful and 
constant companion, and now, at the age of one hundred and 
twenty -seven years, she had reached her ultimate earthly 
pilgrimage; and at Hebron, in the land of Canaan, she laid 
down to die, and Abraham came to " mourn for Sarah, and 
"to weep for her." And then occurred the transaction 
recorded in the 23rd Chapter of Genesis, by which, for the 
sum of "four hundred shekels of silver, current money with 
" the merchant," the desired burial place was forever secured, 
even "the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, and 
"the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in 
" the field, and that were in all the borders round about." 

How fondly in after years the memory of Abraham recurred 
to this sacred spot, we hardly needed any narrative to inform 
us ; but that it was so remembered by him and his family, 
for at least three generations, we are abundantly assured by 
the fact that there his own remains were deposited, there 
Jacob charged his sons to bury him, for there, he adds with 
pious recognition of his honored ancestry and love for his 
kindred, " there they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife ; 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 29 

" there Isaac was buried, and Eebekah bis wife, and there I 
" buried Leah ;" and when Joseph died he took an oath of the 
children of Israel that they should carry np his bones from 
the land of Egypt, beyond all doubt that he, likewise, might 
be gathered to his fathers, and rest in the same hallowed and 
secure inclosure. 

It seems a little difficult to assign an adequate reason for 
the exceeding care and costliness displayed by the ancient 
Egyptians in the disposition they made of the remains of the 
dead. That something inspired this, beyond mere respect 
for the memory of departed friends and kindred, would appear 
to be indicated by the existence of those vast catacombs, 
the mighty cities of the dead, preserved by the process of 
embalming, for an apparently interminable duration, and the 
erection of pyramids, for the existence of which no reason so 
satisfactory has been given as that which assigns to them the 
office of sepulchres of their rulers, so aptly described by Job 
when he speaks of " Kings and Counsellors of the earth? 
" which built desolate places for themselves." Desolate and 
dreary, indeed, are those towering and shapeless masses, 
standing, as they do, amid arid wastes of ever-shifting sand, 
the very names of the builders unknown, and their ashes 
undistinguished from the common dust that, in mummied 
preservation, still mocks at death and wears the semblance 
of a hideous life. Who, in contrast with these, as he con- 
templates his last resting place, would not, with fervent aspi- 
rations, breathe the wish of the Christian poet, 

"Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down, 
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave, 
With here and there a violet bestrown, 

Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave, 
And may an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave." 



30 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Among the Hebrews there existed a strong feeling of 
respect for the remains of the dead, and their places of burial 
were selected with great care and preserved- with solicitous 
regard. They excavated caves in their ornamented gardens, 
hewed out rocky sepulchres in the sides of mountain decliv- 
ities, and sought equally the sequestered valley, the open 
hill-top, and the leafy forest. In contradistinction from most, 
if not all, of the anc : ent nations, they called the grave the 
" House of the Living," indicating thereby their belief that it 
was not the " be-all and the end-all" here or hereafter, but 
was only the portal of that vista that opened up into another 
and a larger and a nobler life, — and thus, when Our Savior 
declared that " God is not the God of the dead, but of the 
" living," he uttered a truism, which, by the Jewish mind — 
acquainted with their own history, the traditional usages and 
language of the common people, not to speak of the teachings 
of their prophets and wise men — should have been instantly 
recognized, and as familiar to their thoughts as household 
words. 

"With the Greeks and Romans, and especially with the 
former, the feeling that prompted costly memorials and votive 
offerings to the dead, was more aesthetic than religious : for, 
as they recognized no assured hope of life beyond the tomb, 
they had no especial lessons to draw from the grave, save 
those which might animate the living to emulate the deeds,, 
which in this life had made the departed illustrious. To the 
momentous question propounded more than three thousand 
years ago, " If a man die, shall he live again?" the most cul- 
tivated and learned Heathenism had no answer save the dim 
foreshadowings on the bright ethereal mind of Plato, and 
the speculations which in a later age employed the leisure 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 31 

and engaged the imperial mind of Tully. But bow meagre 
and unsatisfactory were their highest views and noblest aspi- 
rations, is indicated by the fact that, in that dimly deseried 
future, that land afar off, that ' : diem prazclarem" which the 
great Roman orator hoped might in some unknown region 
break upon his eyesight, his highest visions of happiness 
were connected not with the presence of Him who is the 
fountain of all that is pure, and holy, and good, but with 
dwelling in classic abodes, mingling in the councils of the 
wise and the learned, and communing with men illustrious 
in arts and arms, celebrated in song and renowned in story. 
To the common people the future life, if any there was, 
presented no recognized system of reward or of retribution. 
Only the illustrious, by a divine apotheosis, were raised to 
the gods, whom it required no great stretch of virtue to 
equal or excel ; while the punishments of the impious, the 
incestuous, and the cruel, could only be made palpable to 
the sense by such material torments, as the water soliciting 
the taste, and forever eluding the grasp of Tantalus, the iron 
wheel of Ixion, and the ever rolling and ceaselessly rebound- 
ing stone of Sisyphus. But what mythology by its fanciful 
and empty creations, and [philosophy in its highest reach of 
thought and most earnest yearnings of spirit, could never 
attain, — a ray of light from the throne of the invisible has 
now revealed to us. When Jesus of Nazareth through 
mortal lips proclaimed to the weeping sisters of Bethany, 
" I am the resurrection and the life," the darkness of the 
tomb fled away, and henceforth and evermore it was that 

"Life, and warmth, and joyous light, 
And sorrow's softened tone, 
Were round the pleasant path which seemed 
To lead to heaven alone." 



32 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

How immediately and beautifully was the power of this 
new revelation manifested in the life and death, the cheerful 
burial places, and the monumental emblems and inscriptions 
of the early Christians. They adopted the Greek word 
Koimeteria — cemeteries — literally, places of sleep — as the 
appropriate and characteristic designation of the spots they 
devoted to the repose of the dead. When, in the language 
of the Scriptures, their brethren "fell asleep," devout men 
carried them to their burial, and, though lamentations and 
tears were not restrained, they laid them down in hope, con- 
fident that the sleep of the good and the holy would be fol- 
lowed by a sure and blissful waking. They carved no such 
emblems on their tombstones as inverted torches, to intimate 
that when the light of life went out it was never to be 
rekindled: but the star of faith, the anchor of hope, and the 
rainbow of promise, garnished and flamed out as well on 
humble stone as on towering shaft or commemorative 
cenotaph; while such inscriptions as "A father to his son 
" borne away by angels," " To him who now lives among the 
" innocent ones," " He is not dead, but sleepeth," marked, in 
the strongest contrast with heathen hopelessness, their abid- 
ing trust in the life of joy and blessedness, 

" Whose portal they called Death." 

It is in full accordance with these glorious hopes, and 
somewhat in imitation of the spirit that animated those early 
disciples of our common faith, that we come this day to ded- 
icate this Cemetery, this sleeping-place, this house of repose, 
for some that have gone before and many that shall follow 
after us. I am not sufficiently familiar with your local his- 
tory to be acquainted with the varied steps of progress through 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 33 

which you have passed, until you have reached the culmina- 
ting point which has secured the quiet glades, the leafy nooks, 
and the lovely outlooking hilltops of "Oakwood," as a "pos- 
" session of a burial-place" to you and to your children for- 
ever. I may, doubtless, assume that yours has been the 
usual history of all the early settlements in our country, from 
the day when the pilgrims at Plymouth hurried their dear 
departed ones to undistinguished graves. They buried them 
in silence and in fear, and raised not even a mound over their 
resting places, lest the ever watchful foe should discover their 
diminished numbers, and know how few of those brave and 
manly hearts were left to shelter the weak and helpless that 
still looked up to them for succor. 

You passed through no such unhappy experience as this ; 
and yet it is quite possible, so marvellous has been your 
growth and development, that there are those yet living and 
moving among you, — perchance standing amid the witnesses 
of the ceremonies of this day, — who also witnessed here the 
first burial, heard the first wail of sadness that went up from 
stricken hearts, and listened to the first prayer that broke the 
solitude of the forest primeval, where now stands this fair 
and prosperous city, teeming with life and energy and hope. 
The day that marked that first visitation of the angel of death 
in this new settlement, whenever it occurred, and whether 
the visit came to smiling infancy in its opening dawn of beau- 
ty, to' woman in her confiding weakness and faithful love, or 
to man in his stalwart strength, was a sad and memorable day- 
No slowly tolling bell sent the news to distant households 
that a spirit was passing to the unseen world ; no gathered 
crowds, attracted by curiosity or by sympathy, thronged the 
streets ; no sable hearse or nodding plumes were there to 



34 0AKW00D CEMETERY. 

attend the dead to his resting-place, but grief, though simple, 
was sincere, and mourning, though it had no outward show, 
was heartfelt and uuiversal. Then was the virgin soil first 
pierced to receive that earliest tenant, where the great reaper, 
Death, subsequently gathered in his victims with such fre- 
quency that the little spot of earth thus dedicated to his 
dominion became too limited to receive the increasing multi- 
tude. Then did you, or your fathers, seek larger fields and 
wider boundaries, where humble affection planted flowers and 
ample wealth erected marble obelisks, until, in time, that 
teeming ground became too straight for its occupants, and 
taste and large-hearted beneficence, no less than imperative 
necessity, guided your footsteps to this pleasant spot. 

In the early days of New England, the place most com- 
monly selected for a burial-ground was an enclosure adjacent 
to, and, indeed, surrounding, their houses of worship, so that 
from the open window the living could look out upon the 
mansions of the dead, and read the names of the fathers and 
mothers of the hamlet, and ponder the lessons suggested by 
the holy texts that " taught the rustic moralist to die." These 
places were frequently indicated by a name which Long- 
fellow very happily commemorates when he says 

"I like that ancient Saxon phrase which calls 
The burial-place "God's acre" — it is just; 
It consecrates each grave within its walls, 

And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust." 

You may have had no such places of repose around or in 
the neighborhood of your churches ; yet have I seen in my 
walks about your city a spot where tottering and moss-grown 
stones and half-decayed enclosures are yet visible. The busy 
hand of enterprise has almost entirely surrounded it, and, ere 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 35 

long, yielding to the inevitable march of improvement, the 
ashes of the few yet sleeping there must be mingled with 
and undistinguishable from the common earth, or blown with 
restless violence by the winds of heaven to far-distant 
regions. Each of them had a history in his day, and, as each 
one was laid in the narrow house, weary feet and aching 
hearts went back to desolate hearthstones, and sadly took up 
again the burden of life which the lost had aided them to 
bear. And now the busy throng of the living sweeps by 
them, and they heed it not. Rushing railroad trains, with 
thundering tread, jar and shake the solid earth above them, 
but their repose is not broken. Like the long separated, but 
in death united, lovers in " Evangeline "— 

" In the heart of the city they lie unknown and unnoticed ; 
Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them ; 
Thousands of throbbing hearts, while theirs are at rest, and forever ; 
Thousands of aching brains, while theirs no longer are busy ; 
Thousands of toiling hands, while theirs have ceased from their labors ; 
Thousands of weary feet, while theirs have completed their journey." 

If there be, my friends, no kindred left to care for and 
protect their remains, and the hand of improvement must 
invade their rest, gather up, I beseech you, the poor dust, ere 
it be borne away beyond recovery, and make room for these 
relics in your new and beautiful grounds, that there they 
may, if possible, enjoy that repose that shall not be again 
broken until the voice of the archangel and the trump of God 
shall call the dead to judgment. 

A burial place in a crowded city is ever a heartless and 
repulsive object. Pressed upon by the habitations of the 
living, and only preserved from intrusive familiarity or unhal- 
lowed desecration by high and forbidding walls, it presents 
no scenery to attract, no quietness and peace to allure to 



60 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

meditation. But rural cemeteries, at a pleasant and yet 
accessible remove from the dwellings of men, with waving 
trees and sweet-scented flowers, the emblems and symbols of 
the heart, with "yellow sunshine and flowing air," vocal with 
song of birds and sighing winds and murmuring streams, 
these are fitted to soothe at the same time that they elevate 
the spirit, and, while they teach us no forgetful n ess, make us 
less repining and disconsolate. The graves of all the dead 
have myriad voices, that speak to the living with more than 
the eloquence of human lips. They tell us of man's frailty 
— they arrest the swift current of thoughtless, worldly life — 
they bring us near the confines of the unseen and the better 
land, and teach us, if we will but listen, how to live with 
wisdom and to die with hope. 

But the burial place of those we love is always invested 
with far deeper interest. It is here that the heart has gar- 
nered up its treasures, and will not let them die. And in 
future years, upon this now untrodden ground, will many 
bitter tears be shed, and many an unavailing sigh be breathed, 
and many trembling footsteps come and go, until the keen- 
ness of a first great sorrow has been shaded down into a quiet 
grief, and we shall learn to love the place where they repose 
who have passed us by only a few stages in the great journey 
of life. Hither shall come the strong, stern man, whose 
heart has been so encased in the adamantine walls of world- 
liness that only a wrench that tears his life-strings asunder 
can make him feel ; and here gentle and long-suffering woman? 
bending like the ozier beneath the great blow that bows her 
to the dust; and manly and ingenuous youth, struggling to 
hide a grief it cannot quite repress; and prattling childhood, 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 37 

all unconscious of its loss, shall come, and with loving and 
united labor they 

' ' Here shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than fancy's feet have ever trod." 

I congratulate you, my friends, that you have at length 
been able to secure so appropriate, so desirable a resting- 
place for yourselves and your children. 

It is honorable alike to the public spirit and the private 
enterprise that have been engaged in its acquisition. Nature 
has done much, but taste, and skill, and affection, will do 
still more in the future years of its history to make it a very 
Mecca of the mind and heart. It is fitting that it should be 
consecrated by public and solemn acts of devotion to Almighty 
God, by the voice of prayer and the swelling tide of sacred 
song, for here in after years is to be gathered a great congre- 
gation of your loved and honored ones. 

We stand here today, surrounded by the emblems and 
memorials of the fading year, and legibly written around us 
is the inscription " Passing away." The sighing wind and the 
deciduous leaf of autumn are the harbingers and witnesses of 
that temporary death that falls upon the natural world. Bud 
and leaf and flower and fruit have alike yielded to the inev- 
itable law by which death follows life, and suspended ani- 
mation the freshness and glory as well of nature as of sentient 
existence. These emblems are not unfitting accompaniments 
of this day and this occasion, reminding us, as they do, of 
our own mortality, and of the change that will come to us as 
it has to the millions that have gone before and will succeed 
us,—" for we all do fade as a leaf." 

But over all this scene another change shall pass. The 
storms of the coming winter shall visit this now peaceful 



38 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

spot, and howl through these leafless branches ; and its white 
and glittering shroud shall enwrap this already decaying 
vegetation. But Spring, with its balmy breath and softly 
distilling showers, shall come again. Suspended nature 
shall hear its voice and listen to its footsteps, and leap up 
and sing rejoicingly. And, in like manner, the lifeless re- 
mains that may in after years be deposited here, shall be 
awakened and re-animated, for 

" Spring shall re-visit the mouldering urn, 
And day dawn again on the night of the grave." 

Upon all these now denuded oaks — upon dying flower and 
shrub, and upon every withered blade of grass, is written 
the inscription — " Resurgimus" And upon every monu- 
mental stone or tablet to be erected here, may also be en- 
graved the same blessed word of promise and of hope. 

And still another day shall come in the far future, and yet 
another spectacle shall be witnessed here, transcending all 
that earth has yet seen of fearful interest or glorious gran- 
deur. A great assembly shall stand, once more, and for the 
last time, upon this ground. " The leaves will have ceased 
to fall. Then the grass will no more fade. Memorials will 
have done their work. We shall look towards the moun- 
tains, and they will move out of their places ; towards the 
graves, and they will not be here ; towards the earth, and 
all will be new ; towards the skies, and with a mighty noise 
they will pass away." 

And then shall your dead come forth and join the great 
assembly that from hill and valley, from the waste wilder- 
ness and the crowded city, from mountain's highest top, and 
ocean's deepest cave, will go up to meet the Lord in the air. 
Thrice happy they who shall have part with him in that sec- 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 39 

ond and final resurrection. " They shall hunger no more, 

neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, 

nor any heat." The sorrows of this mortal life shall no 

more re-visit them, nor ever again shall they experience the 

eclipse of faith, the desertion of love, or the failure of hope. 

" No more to them earth's fading light 
And blighting air are given, 
For they shall see the light of God, 
And breathe the air of Heaven !" 

The oration was enthusiastically received, and upon its 
conclusion the orator drew down upon himself the warm 
plaudits of the spectators- 
Next followed the Ode, (written for the occasion by the 
Kev. John Pierpont, who honored the occasion with his pre- 
sence,) which was read by the Kev. W. W. Newell, D. D., 
and sung by the Syracuse Musical Institute. 



ODE. 

BY KEV. JOHN PIERPONT. 

Air — Old Hundred. 
These temples,* now erect and strong, 

Wherein thy Spirit, Lord of all, 
Dwelleth and giveth life, ere long 

Will totter, and in ruins fall. 

By pious hands, beneath the shade 
Of these old trees, those ruins must, 

With tears, be reverently laid, 
To mingle slowly, dust with dust. 

Sacred, from this day, be these grounds ! 

Here be a quiet Sabbath kept, 
While the years walk their silent rounds 

Here let our own long sleep be slept. 



40 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

But, Lord, the grave, the body's bed, 
Made here, is not the Spirit's prison : 

We hear the angel voice, that said, 

" He is not here ; yonr friend is risen." f 

May we, Father, be so blest, 

That when from earth the spirit springs, 

It may mount up to thee, and rest 
Beneath the covert of thy wings. 

The ceremonies now over, Rev. Joseph M. Clark, of St. 
James' Episcopal Church, pronounced the 

BENEDICTION. 

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep 
your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, 
and of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord ; and the blessing of 
God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, be 
amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen. 

After the Benediction, the procession re-formed, and took 

up its line of march towards the city, in the following order : 

Brigadier-General Richardson and Staff. 

Light Dragoons. 

Miller's Regimental Band. 

Drum Corps, 51st Regiment. 

Fifty -first Regiment, commanded by Lieut-Col. M. E. Church, in the 

following order : 

Syracuse Citizens' Corps, as Guard of Honor. 

Syracuse Grays. 

Washington Artillery. 

Major-General Brown and Staff, in Carriages. 

Samsels Band. 

Chief Engineer and Aids. 

Fire Department, in Uniform. 

Continental Hose, as Color Company. 

Sutherland's Band. 

German Mechanics' Association. 

St. Joseph's Society, with Banner and Regalia. 

Directors of Franklin Institute. 

Board of Education. 

Young Men's Christian Association. 

Orator and Poet. 

Officiating Clergymen. 

Trustees of Oakwood Cemetery. 



t Matt, xxviii., & 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. * 41 

The procession was very imposing, and drew a large num- 
ber of citizens into the streets, whose irregular lines marked 
the route of the procession from Oakwood Cemetery to 
Clinton Square, where it was dismissed. 

The Syracuse & Binghamton Eailroad brought large num- 
bers of spectators back to the city, whose presence in the 
procession would have swelled it to such dimensions as would 
be outside the reach of the eye. 

Among the spectators present were many gentlemen from 
abroad, who had stepped aside in the journey of life to wit- 
ness the dedication of this beautiful home of the dead— also, 
most of the pastors, Catholic and Protestant, of our city. 

The weather was appropriately suitable to the occasion, — 
now cloudy, reminding man of the fate that awaits mortality, 
— and anon bright sunshine broke out from the darkness and 
illumined the horizon, typical of the bright and glorious 
awakening beyond the grave. 

Thus has been consecrated to the dead, a lovely spot, that 
will be hallowed by us now living, as the resting place of 
those who shall have gone before us, and generations yet 
unborn, as that boundary line which separates us and them 
from the beautiful City of the New Jerusalem. 



RULES AND REGULATIONS. 



I. — All lots shall be held in pursuance of the provisions 
of Title 8th, Article 1st, Chap. 18th, Part 1st of the Bevised 
Statutes of the State of New York, and shall not be .used 
for any other purpose than as a place of burial for the dead. 

II. — The Proprietor of each lot may erect any proper mon- 
ument or sepulchral structure thereon, and cultivate trees, 
shrubs or plants on the same ; except that no slab shall be 
set in any other than a horizontal position, unless it be at 
least three inches in thickness, finished on both sides, set in 
a permanent socket of stone and not exceeding two feet and 
a half high and two feet wide ; and no tree growing upon 
the lot or border shall be cut down or destroyed without the 
consent of the Association. 

III.— r- Vaults or Tombs are not recommended, but will be 
permitted provided all but their fronts and roofs are below 
ground ; built of durable materials and fitted with catacombs 
in a tight and substantial manner, which shall be sealed up 
with hard brick, laid in cement, immediately after the deposit 
of bodies therein ; and the entrance provided with one or 
more metal doors. 

IV. — If any trees or shrubs situated in any lot, shall, by 
means of their roots, branches, or otherwise, become detri- 
mental to the adjacent lots or avenues, or dangerous or in- 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 43 

convenient to passengers, or may roar the effect and beauty 
of the scenery, it shall be the duty of the Association, and 
it shall have the right, to enter the said lot and remove the 
said trees or shrubs, or such parts thereof as may be detri- 
mental, dangerous or inconvenient. 

V. — If any monument, vault, tomb, effigy or structure 
whatever, or any inscription be placed in or upon any lot. 
which shall be determined by a majority of the Board of Trus- 
tees for the time being, to be offensive or improper, the said 
Trustees shall have the right and it shall be their duty to en- 
ter upon such lot and remove the said offensive or improper 
object or objects; provided, however, that if said structure 
or improvement shall have been made with the consent of 
the Board of Trustees, the same shall not thereafter be re- 
moved, except by a vote of three-fourths of the Trustees. 

VI. — Proprietors shall not allow interments to be made 
upon their lots for a compensation, nor shall any transfer or 
assignment of any lot or of any interest therein, be valid, 
without the consent in writing of the Trustees, or their offi- 
cers, first had and endorsed upon such transfer or assignment, 
nor shall any disinterment be allowed without permission 
being obtained of the President or Secretary. 

YII. With a view of preserving the sylvan effect so es- 
sential in rural cemeteries, no enclosure of lots will be allowed 
other than hedges not exceeding three and one-half feet in 
height, or simple posts of iron or cut stone to designate the 
corners or angles of lots, said posts to project not more than 
one foot above the surface of the ground. In place of the 
posts a continuous curb or coping of cut stone may encircle 
the lot, provided the same be not more than one foot in 
height. 



44 0AKW00D CEMETERY. 

VIII. — The foundations for vaults, monuments or any other 
structures, shall be in accordance with the Rules or By-Laws 
of the Association, and all workmen employed in such foun- 
dations, or in the construction of vaults, enclosing of lots, 
erection of monuments, or any other work pertaining to the 
improvement of the grounds, shall be under the supervision 
and direction of said Association or its Agents. The grading 
and trenching of all lots, the digging of graves and founda- 
tion trenches must be under the direction of an Agent of the 
Association and by workmen regularly employed on the 
grounds. 

IX. — It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees and 
they shall have the power, from time to time, to lay out or 
alter such avenues or walks as they may deem proper (pro- 
vided the same does not interfere with lots previously dispos- 
ed of,) and to make such general rules and regulations for the 
government, protection and improvement of the grounds as 
they may deem requisite and proper to secure and promote 
the general object of the Association. 

X. — The Proprietors of lots and their families shall be al- 
lowed access to the grounds at all times, observing the rules 
which are or may be adopted for the regulation of visitors. 



BY-LAWS. 



ARTICLE I. 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS, MEETING OF TRUSTEES, &C. 

Section 1. —The first Monday of March in each year, is the 
day for electing Trustees, as fixed by the certificate of incor- 
poration. The hour and place of holding election shall be 
regulated by the Trustees, notice of which shall be given by 
publishing the same in at least two newspapers in the City 
of Syracuse, for the space of one week before the day of 
election. " 

Sec. 2. — A meeting of the Trustees shall be held on the 
day of their election, at which meeting they shall appoint a 
President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and an Ex- 
ecutive Committee. The President, Vice President, and 
Executive Committee shall hold their offices until the next 
annual election of Trustees, and until others are elected in 
their places. The Secretary and Treasurer shall hold their 
offices during the pleasure of the Board of Trustees. 

Sec 3. — The President (and in his absence, the Vice Pres- 
ident,) shall preside at all meetings of the Directors, and 
shall call meetings of the Board whenever he may deem it 
necessary, or when requested so to do by any two members 
of the Board. 

Sec. 4. — The duties of the Secretary shall at all times be 
subject to the Board of Directors. He shall keep the min- 
utes of the Board and all the Books, records and accounts of 



46 OAKWOOD CEMETEET. 

the corporation. He shall have the custody of the real estate 
of the corporation, also of its books of account, title deeds, 
papers and documents of every kind. He shall collect all 
monies, and pay the same over forthwith to the Treasurer. 
He shall render a statement of the finances and affairs of the 
corporation when called upon by the Trustees, and also a 
general statement at the expiration of each year, to be ex- 
hibited at the annual meeting of the members of the 
corporation. 

Sec. 5. — The Treasurer shall receive all the funds of the 
corporation and deposit the same to its credit in such Bank 
as may be designated by the Board of Directors ; and the 
same shall be paid out only on bills duly receipted by the 
parties presenting the claim, and with the certificate of the 
Auditing Committee attached to each bill. He shall render 
a quarterly account of the state of the finances to the Trus- 
tees, and shall give bond with surety, for the faithful per- 
formance of his duty. 

Sec. 6. — There shall be an Auditing Committee, composed 
of the President or Vice President, who shall audit all ac- 
counts presented, and shall attach, his certificate to thesame 
before payment shall be made by the Treasurer. 

Sec 7. — The Executive Committee shall be charged with 
the general care of the grounds, and perform such other 
duties, as the Board from time to time may direct, and when 
called upon, shall make a report of their proceedings to the 
Directors. 

Sec. 8. — There shall be a Superintendent of the Cemetery, 
who shall reside on or near the premises, and who is required 
to be in attendance at every interment, and shall obtain a 
statement of the name, place of nativity, residence and age 



0AKW00D CEMETEET. 47 

of the deceased, the disease of which he or she died, and also 
whether married or unmarried, white or colored, and the 
names of the parents of the deceased, and to deliver such 
statement to the Secretary, by whom an accurate registry of 
the same shall be made. He shall attend to the digging and 
closing of graves, and shall have the general control and di- 
rection, under the Board of Directors, of the improvement of 
the premises. He shall keep a map of the Cemetery grounds, 
showing the avenues, walks, and lots, with their numbers, 
and shall cause the boundaries of lots, avenues and walks to 
be preserved. He shall have charge of and keep an account 
of the property, tools and implements of the Association, 
which may be on the premises, and shall see that the Regu- 
lations of the Board of Directors for the proprietors of lots, 
interments, and visitors, are properly observed. 

ARTICLE n. 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

Section 1. — To insure the proper regulation of the grounds, 
the grade of all lots will be determined by the Directors. 

Sec. 2. — All workmen employed in the construction of 
vaults or tombs, erection of monuments &c, must be subject 
to the control and direction of the Trustees or their agents, 
and any workman failing to conform to this regulation, will 
not be permitted afterwards to work in the grounds. 

Sec 3. — To protect the grounds, and especially improved 
lots, from injury, all excavation for vaults and monuments 
will be made by the Association, at the expense of the owners. 

g Ea 4, — Foundations for monuments must be built of solid 
stone masonry, laid in cement, and not less than six feet deep. 



48 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Sec. 5. — No plaster images will be allowed on graves or 
in lots. 

Sec. 6. — All materials brought into the Cemetery, to be 
used in improving lots or otherwise, must be transported and 
deposited within the Cemetery in such a manner .is the Ex- 
ecutive Committee or Superintendent shall direct, and all 
earth or rubbish accumulated in improving lots, must be re- 
moved, and deposited under the direction of the Superin- 
tendent of the grounds, and at the expense of the proprietor 
of such lot. 

ARTICLE in. 

INTERMENTS. 

Section 1. — Graves shall not be less than six feet deep, 
and shall be dug only by persons in the employ of the Asso- 
ciation and under the direction of the Superintendent of the 
grounds. The Trustees suggest that a four inch brick wall 
be built entirely around the coffin, and a stone slab laid over 
it, and the earth packed above. When parties desire this, 
notice must be given to the Superintendent, and the same 
will be done at reasonable charge. 

Sec. 2. — Whenever interments are to be made, at least 
eight hours previous notice thereof must be given to the Su- 
perintendent, and at the same time the size of the coffin, 
measured on the top ; or, if in a case, the size of the case 
should be mentioned. And when interments are to be made 
in private lots, the location of the grave in the lot should be 
stated. In case the above notice is not given, an extra 
charge may be made for digging the grave. 

Sec. 3. — It is proposed to erect a Receiving Tomb for the 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 49 

purpose of depositing bodies therein during the winter 
months, and for the accommodation of those who intend to 
purchase lots. Thirty days from the time of deposit in the 
Tomb will be allowed for making the selection of lot and re- 
moving the remains. 

Sec. 4. — Interments are subject to the folio wing charges, 
to be paid to the Secretary, before or at the time of inter- 
ment, namely : 

Opening, closing and sodding the grave of a person over 
twelve years old, three dollars. 

Opening, closing and sodding the grave of a child under 
twelve years old, two dollars. 

Opening a tomb, one dollar. 

Three dollars shall be paid for depositing and retaining a 
body in the Eeceiving Tomb for the space of thirty days ; 
three dollars for an additional term of six months, and three 
dollars for each month thereafter. 

Sec. 5. — Single graves may be procured in public lots ap- 
propriated for that purpose, at eight dollars each, for an adnlt, 
and five dollars for a child ; which price will include the 
opening, closing and sodding the grave. If lots should af- 
terwards be purchased, and the bodies removed, the full cost 
of the graves located will be allowed, after deducting the ex- 
penses for the original interment and for the disinterment of 
the remains. 

ARTICLE IV. 

CONCERNING VISITORS. 

[A map is being prepared. By examining this, and giv- 
ing due attention to the guide boards, visitors will find no 
difficulty in passing through the grounds.] 



50 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Section 1. — Each proprietor of a lot will be entitled to a 
ticket of admission into the Cemetery with a vehicle, under 
the following regulations, the violation of which, or a loan of 
the ticket, involves a forfeiture of the privilege. 

Sec 2. — No vehicle will be admitted unless accompanied 
by a proprietor, or member of his or her household, with his 
or her ticket, or unless presenting a special ticket of admis- 
sion obtained at the office of the Cemetery, or of a Trustee. 

Sec. 3. — On Sundays and holydays the gates will be closed. 
Proprietors of lots, however, will be admitted, on foot, by 
applying to the Keeper at the lodge. 

Sec. 4. — Fast driving will be especially prohibited, and no 
vehicle will be allowed to pass through the grounds at a rate 
exceeding three miles an hour. 

Sec. 5. — No persons or parties having refreshments to sell, 
will be permitted to come within the grounds, nor will any 
smoking be allowed. 

S EC# 6. — No horse may be left by the driver in the grounds 
unfastened. Hitching posts are provided for that purpose. 
Any person violating the above rule, or fastening his horse 
to a tree, will be required by the Superintendent to leave the 
grounds forthwith. 

Sec. 7. — All persons are prohibited from writing upon, 
defacing, or otherwise injuring any monument, fence, or 
other structure in or belonging to the Cemetery, or from 
picking any flowers, either wild or cultivated, or injuring any 
tree, shrub or plant. 

Sec. 8. — Any person disturbing the quiet and good order 
of the place, by noise or other improper conduct, will be 
compelled instantly to leave the grounds. 

Sec 9. — The gates will be opened at sunrise, and closed 
for entrance) at sunset. 



OAKWOOD CEMETEKT. 51 

Visitors are reminded that these grounds are appropriated 
exclusively to the interment of the dead. It is therefore in- 
dispensable that there should be a strict observance of all the 
proprieties due to the place. The Superintendent, being 
clothed with the powers of a special policeman, will be re- 
quired to arrest disorderly persons. 



SUGGESTIONS TO LOT OWNERS. 



Durability of Improvements. — When it is borne in mind 
that the design of this Association is to provide family burial, 
not merely for the present, or succeeding, but for many, and 
for all future generations, too much importance cannot be 
attached to the form and manner of the improvements made 
by the proprietors of lots. To render the grounds increas- 
ingly attractive, not only should good taste pervade every 
improvement and embellishment, but the materials used for 
enclosures and monumental structures should be of such a 
nature, and the mode of construction of such a kind, as to 
secure the greatest possible degree of durability and perma- 
nency. Unless great care is exercised in these particulars, 
the lapse of a few years will give to the grounds the appear- 
ance of dilapidation and decay. If, however, proper care 
and attention be exercised in designing, ordering, and exe- 
cuting the improvements to be made, and especially if lot 
owners will avail themselves of the wise provisions of the 
general law, for the repair, preservation and renewal of the 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 



various enclosures, monuments and tombs which are or may 
be erected, they will ensure to themselves and their succes- 
sors for many generations, not only a permanent, but a de- 
cent and tasteful place of repose for the dead. 

Monuments. — In regard to monuments, too much care and 
attention cannot be bestowed, if by such attention, perma- 
nency be secured. The foundation should be laid strongly 
in cement, and be not less than six feet deep — the usual 
depth of graves. The stone of which the structure is made, 
should in all cases be solid, and made to lie on a natural 
bed. Monuments built up, faced with thin slabs of marble 
or stone, and filled in with common masonry, will not last. 
It is a species of veneering and mantle-piece work, that will 
not long abide the exposure to which it is subjected- nor 
will stone, if solid, long endure, unless it be made to lie on 
what is termed its natural bed. Most kinds of stone and 
marble are composed of different strata, or layers, like the 
leaves of a book. If the stones are placed edgewise, or ver- 
tically, so as to expose the strata to the action of the weather 
and the frost, they will, in time, split asunder and the whole 
structure will fall into ruin and decay. 

Tombs. — The same remarks will apply with equal if not 
greater force, in respect to tombs built in part or wholly 
above ground. In such structures great care is needed in 
the plan and construction which may be adopted. The 
stones should be of sufficient size to extend frequently 
through the wall, not mere slabs set up on the edge, forming 
no bond of union between the outer and inner surface. 
Where angles occur, each alternate course should unite the 
walls by means of solid stones cut to the angle required, so 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 53 

as to render a separation of the walls impossible, unless by a 
general destruction of the whole. When placed in the hill 
side, the parts above the natural surface should be of cut stone, 
the sides as well as the front, so as to avoid all artificial em- 
bankments and sodding. In this way the natural form of the 
hill will be preserved, unseemly, artificial mounds will be 
prevented, and, ultimately, much expense will be saved in 
being free from the necessity, which will otherwise exist, of 
frequently renewing and repairing the embankments which 
are made. The roof should always be of stone tiles, or of 
flagging, the former being more tasteful, is to be preferred. 
Tombs faithfully built in this Way, may safely be depended 
upon for centuries. 

Vaults. — Yaults under ground should be built of stone 
walls at least 18 inches thick, with arch of hard brick 12 
inches thick, and all laid in the best of cement ; lime should 
not be used for work under ground ; nor is it well to use it 
any way for monumental purposes when good fresh cement 
can be procured. 

Variety in Monuments. — As the permanency of monu- 
ments and their enclosures is essential to the decent appear- 
ance of the grounds, so are the character and variety of the 
structures essential to a permanently pleasing effect on the 
mind. On this subject, also, too much thought can hardly 
be bestowed. The experience of other similar institutions 
appeals strongly and opportunely on this point to the lot- 
owners. They have it in their power, at this early period 
in the history of the institution, to avoid an error of which 
the others so justly complain. In a recent publication of the 



54: OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Laurel Hill Cemetery Association, of Philadelphia, occurs 
the following passage : 

"There is another suggestion which the managers feel it 
their duty to make to lot owners ; they trust it will be re- 
ceived as an evidence that they are anxious to unite in car- 
rying out the original intention of creating at Laurel Hill a 
toute ensemble which shall evince that, with superior facili- 
ties, there is growing up an improved taste in monumental 
sculpture. It has been the frequent remark of visitors — our 
own citizens as well as strangers — that a monotony already 
begins to be apparent in the style and form of the improve- 
ments ; obelisk succeeds obelisk, etc., with only slight varia- 
tions, and if this is continued, we shall see, in time, too dull 
a uniformity to strike the mind with agreeable sentiments. 
This may be obviated by a little more enquiry before order- 
ing a monument, and by not always taking the advice of the 
stone-mason, often himself willing to suggest the greatest 
bulk for the least money, and thus allowing marble to usurp 
the place of good taste." * * 

"A correct idea, expressed in marble, may be very beau- 
tiful, so long as it is unique; but by too frequent imitation, 
and in too close proximity with its original, it may destroy 
the charm of the first, and ultimately raise feelings in the 
beholder the reverse of those desired." 

It can hardly be doubted that these remarks, so forcibly 
expressive ot true criticism and correct taste, will exercise 
a favorable and justly controlling influence on the future 
improvements erected by the proprietors of Oakwood 

Inscriptions on Monuments. — A suggestion on this sub- 
ject is ventured with diffidence, yet not without hope that it 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 55 

may be of some use. While good taste proscribes, in ail 
cases, fulsome eulogies of the departed, it does not forbid all 
notice of their virtues. The best feelings of our nature seem 
to demand something more than a mere record of name and 
birth and death. A simple, brief and appropriate epitaph 
proves not less interesting and instructive to the casual pas- 
ser by, than to those who mourn more deeply the loss of 
those whom it coinmemmorates. Nor will it be one of the 
least objects of interest to those who in after times visit these 
grounds, to read the records which friendship and aifection 
place here upon the monumental stone. 

Shrubbery. — In regard to shrubbery it will be well to re- 
member that only certain kinds will do well in the shade. 
In ordering plants, therefore, satisfactory information on this 
point ought to be obtained before designating such as are to 
be placed under the foliage of the forest. 

Aid to PROPRiETORS.-r-Proprietors contemplating making 
improvements will have every facility extended to them by 
the Superintendent, who will furnish information, and, if de. 
sired, superintend the execution of work. 

Importance of Improvements. — It is much to be wished 
that lot-owners generally would make their improvements as 
early as their convenience will permit. Every improvement 
made, adds, in a greater or less degree, to the appearance and 
interest of the grounds. 

Care of Lots.— It is very desirable, as well for the general 
appearance of the Cemetery, as for the satisfaction of propri- 
etors, that such lots as are improved should be kept in proper 



56 0AKW00D CEMETERY. 

order, the grass cut, the weeds eradicated and the shrubbery 
carefully attended to. Those who wish their lots taken care 
of in this way, may have it done for the sum of two dollars 
each lot per annum, it being understood that it is optional 
with with them to make this arrangement or not, as they 
may desire. 



APPENDIX A. 



FORM OF DEED. 



Know all men by these Presents, that the Cemetery Asso- 
ciation known by the corporate name of " Oakwood," in con- 
sideration of Dollars, to them paid by 

the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do here- 
by grant, bargain, sell and convey to the said 
heirs and assigns, Lot in Section in 

the Cemetery of the said Association, called "Oakwood," 
situate in and adjoining the City of Syracuse, in the State of 
New York; which Lot delineated and laid down on 

the Kegister Map or Plan of .the said Cemetery, in the pos- 
session of the said Association, and therein designa- 
ted by the number containing superficial 
feet. To Have and to Hold the herein above granted prem- 
ises to the said heirs and assigns, forever ; subject, 
however, to the conditions and limitations, and with the priv- 
ileges specified in the Eules and Eegulations, hereto annex- 
ed. And the said Association of Oakwood do hereby cove- 
nant to and with the said heirs and assigns, that they 
are lawfully seized of the herein above granted premises, in 
fee simple; that they have aright to sell and convey the 
same for the purposes above expressed, and that they will 



58 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

warrant and defend the same unto the said heirs and 

assigns forever. 

In Testimony Whereof, the said Association of Oakwood 
have caused this instrument to be signed by their 
President, and their Common Seal to be hereto affixed, 
this day of in the year of our Lord 

one thousand eight hundred and 



APPENDIX B. 



ARTICLE OF AGREEMENT. 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 



In consideration of tne sum of Dollars, for which 

has given his Promissory Note, the Association, 
known as Oakwood, hereby promises and agrees to and with 
the said that when the said Note paid, they 

will execute and deliver to him or his assigns such a convey- 
ance for Lot No. in Section No. in the Cemetery of 
said Association, as is provided by the Rules and By-Laws 
of said Association. But in case of failure to pay said Note 
then this contract is, in the discretion of said Association, 
forfeited and annulled, and the Association may, in their dis- 
cretion, enter on said Lot, and again sell the same, without 
notice. 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 59 

Witness the hand of the President and Secretary of the 
Board of Trustees of said Association, this day 

of in the year of our Lord 18 



Secretary. 



President. 



APPENDIX C. 



CERTIFICATE OF INDEBTEDNESS. 



THE RURAL CEMETERY AT SYRACUSE, KNOWN AND DESIGNATED BY 
THE NAME OF " OAKWOOD." 

The Association called " Oakwood," does hereby Certify, 
that of has subscribed for the purpose of 

purchasing the lands conveyed to the said Association, the 
sum of and has given his Promissory Notes for the 

said sum of with interest from the 16th day of Au- 

gust last. Now it is hereby agreed, by the said Association, 
that one-half of the money received, on the sale of lots in the 
said Cemetery lands, is hereby pledged to the re-payment of 
the subscribers aforesaid, for the amounts which they shall 
respectively pay on the said notes, until the whole amount 
thereof, with interest, is paid, and that the said will 

be entitled to his pro-rata share of such receipts, as the same 
are from time to time realized, until he shall have received 
full payment of the amount that he may have paid on said 
Notes with interest. 



60 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Witness, The Subscription of the names of the President 
and Secretary of the said Association hereto, this 
day of 18 

President. 
Secretary. 



APPENDIX D. 

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION. 

To whom it may concern — Greeting : 

This is to certify that the persons mentioned herein, resi- 
dents of the State of New York, desiring to form an Asso- 
ciation for the purpose of procuring and holding lands to be 
used exclusively for a Cemetery, or place for the burial of 
the dead, did meet on the fifteenth day of August, 1859, at 
the mayor's Office, in Syracuse, being the time and place 
agreed upon, and appointed Elias W. Leavenworth, of said 
city of Syracuse, Chairman, and L. W. Hall, of the same 
place, Secretary, by the unanimous vote of the persons pre- 
sent at the said meeting, and proceeded in all respects under 
and pursuant to the provisions of the act entitled " an act 
authorizing the Incorporation of Rural Cemetery Associa- 
tions," passed April 27, 1847, and the acts amending the 
same. 

That the following named associates attended said meeting : 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 61 

Curtis Moses, Ira Gage Barnes, E. W. Leavenworth, Hamil- 
ton White,- J. Dean Hawley, A. C. Powell, H. W. VanBu- 
ren, I. S. Spencer, G. L. Maynard, Charles Andrews, T. R. 
Porter, J. P. Haskins, F. Wellington, L. W. Hall, Allen 
Munroe, John White, Ira H. Williams, and Thomas B. Fitch. 
That thereupon, the said meeting, by a vote of a majority of 
its members, determined on Oakwood as the name by which 
the said Association should be called and known. 

That the number of Trustees fixed upon to manage the 
concerns of said Association is twelve. That the names of 
the Trustees chosen at said meeting, and who were duly elect- 
ed by ballot, pursuant to said law; at said meeting, are Ham- 
ilton White, J. P. Haskins, Elias W. Leavenworth, John 
Crouse, John Wilkinson, Archibald C. Powell, Allen Mun- 
roe, Thomas G. Alvord, Timothy R. Porter, Rob't G. Wyn- 
koop, J. Dean Hawley and Austin Myers. That immediate- 
ly after said election the said Trustees were divided by lot 
by said Chairman and Secretary, and classified pursuant to 
said law, as follows: Elias W. Leavenworth, Austin Myers, 
James P. Haskins and John Wilkinson, constitute the first 
class, and Archibald C. Powell, Allen Munroe, Robert G. 
Wynkoop and Thomas G. Alvord, constitute the second class, 
and John Crouse, Timothy R. Porter, Hamilton White and 
J. Dean Hawley, constitute the third class, and that the first 
Monday in March, in each year, is the day fixed upon by- 
said meeting for the Annual Election of said Trustees. 

E. W. LEAVENWORTH, Chairman. 
L. W. Hall, Secretary. 



62 0AKW00D CEMETERY. * 

STATE OF NEW-YORK,) 

Onondaga County. — ss. ) 

On this 17th day of August, 1859, 
personally appeared before me, the above named Elias W. 
Leavenworth and L. W. Hall, to me well known, and known 
to be the same persons described in and who executed 
the above certificate, and they severally acknowledge the 
due execution of the same. 

Sam'l H. Edwards, 
Com'r of Deeds, 



APPENDIX E. 



COPY OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



In case a Eural Cemetery Association shall be organized, 
and shall purchase the premises now in contemplation, con- 
sisting of about ninety acres, belonging to Messrs. Baker and 
Raynor, or the twenty acres of Mr. Baker, we, the subscri- 
bers, severally agree that we will, on demand, deliver to said 
Association, satisfactory negotiable promissory notes, or oth- 
er good satisfactory security, for the sums set opposite our 
names respectively, for the purpose of defraying the cost of 
such land and improving the same. Said notes or other se- 
curities to be on interest, and if amounting in the aggregate 
to two hundred and fifty dollars or over, they shall be paya- 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 



63 



ble in three equal annual installments, with interest annually, 
and it amounting to less than two hundred and fifty dollars, 
they shall be payable in eight, sixteen and twenty-four 
months; said notes to be all on interest, and payable at 
Bank. 

The amount which we shall respectively pay on said notes 
to be repaid to us respectively, with interest, by said Asso- 
ciation, in the manner mentioned in Chap. 133, of the Laws 
of 1847, viz : One-half at least of all the proceeds of the 
sales of lots in said Cemetery to be divided annually, and 
paid over to us respectively, according to the amount of pay- 
ments made by us respectively ; and the price of any lot or 
lots which any of us may purchase in said Cemetery, will 
apply as so much repayment on sums paid on said notes. 

This subscription not to be binding, unless at least twenty- 
five thousand dollars are subscribed. In forming said Asso- 
ciation, each of the subscribers shall be notified of the time 
and place of meeting, by circulars deposited in the Post Of- 
fice, at Syracuse, directed to us severally, at the place set 
opposite our respective names, at least three days before the 
meeting ; and in selecting Trustees, each subscriber present 
at the meeting shall be entitled to a vote on each twenty-five 
dollars he may have subscribed hereto ; the Trustees to be 
selected from the subscribers. 

In case only the twenty acres of Mr. Baker shall be bought, 
then the subscriptions shall be reduced to two-fifths of their 
amounts, or to the sum of $10,000. 

Syracuse, May 31st, 1859. 



64 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

Horace & Ham'l White, Syracuse, $2,500 

John Crouse, ■ 1,000 

E. W, Leavenworth, 1,000 

John Wilkinson, 1,000 

0. T. Longstreet, 1,000 

L. H. Redfield, Syracuse, 500 

Arch'd O. Powell, " , 500 

Allen Munroe, 1,000 

Thomas G. Alvord, 500 

Israel S. Spencer, 500 

J. P. Haskin, 500 

A. A. Howlett, 300 

John D. Norton, 500 

B. Burton, 500 

Ira Gage Barnes, 500 

Geo. F. Comstock, 500 

W. H. Shankland, 500 

Geo. L. Maynard, 250 

Austin Myers, 1,000 

Joseph Seymour, 100 

McDougall, Fenton & Co., 250 

H. N. White, 100 

C. Tallman, Syracuse, 250 

H.B.Wilbur, Syracuse, 100 

Curtis Moses, " 100 

For Mrs. Eliza Hoyt, " * 100 

J. L. Bagg, 250 

Richard Cloyde, " 50 

Sidney Stanton, 250 

Geo. N. Kennedy, 250 

George Barnes, 250 

E. T. Wright, 250 

T. R. Porter, 300 

Thomas B. Fitch, 300 

A. G» Yates, 250 



OAKWOOD CEMETEKY. 65 

0. T. Burt. Three Hundred dollars, 300 

J. W. Barker, Two Hundred and fifty do., 250 

Charles Andrews, 250 

C. B. Sedgwick, 250 

H. W. Van Buren, 300 

Ira H. Williams, 100 

D.Pratt, .' 100 

J. L. Cook & Sons, 30© 

Lyman Clary, 100 

F. Wellington, 300 

Clinton F. Paige, One Hundred doll's, 100 

Wynkoop & Brother, One Hundred Dollars, 100 

Willard & Hawley, One Hundred Doll's, 100 

H. W. Slocum, 100 

John White, 150 

R. Raynor, 150 

D. S. Smith, 100 

L. H. & F. Hiscock, 150 

J. G. Greenway, Three Hundred dollars, 300 

Jo's F. Sabine, 100 

W. Winton, 100 

Kenyon & Potter, 200 

H. Riegel, 50 

D. McDougall, charged to McD. & Co., 100 

L. W. Hall, One Hundred dollars, 100 

John J. Crouse, 200 

Jacob Crouse, 100 

M. H. Church, 100 



66 0AKW00D CEMETEET. 

APPENDIX F. 
NAMES OF VOTERS. 



Ayes. — Aaron Burt, Win. B. Kirk, Tho.'s Kose, I. Tallrnan , 
J. Fancher, Hervey Rhoades, C. A. Huntoon, Reuben L. 
Hess, Tho.'s B. Hoyt, W. W. Wells, L. Messenger, Ralph R. 
Phelps, Josiah Brintnall, John F. Wyman, J. B. Huntington, 
Oliver Teall, James G. Tracy, E. H. Hough, E. Cook, Amos 
Benedict, T. E. Hastings, Obed Baxter, D. McCormick, Wm. 
Malcolm, Joseph Savage. S. Steenburgh, I. Lewis, J. DeWitt 
Rose, Nathan Yan Benscoten, A. Page, L. Palmer, H. T. 
Gibson, Rob't Furman, Geo. Smith, Lyman Walker, Elisha 
F. Wallace, John H. Lathrop, Samuel B. Ward, Cyril H. 
Brackett, R. Seager, Albert A. Hudson, Silas Bliss, P. W. 
Hudson, A. Hughes, Asahel L. Smith, Jabez Hawley, Jared 
F. Phelps, Rial Wright, Lyman Clary, Stephen W. Cadwell, 
Henry Gifford, J. Mayo, B. W. Snow, Wm. Barker, John 
Wilkinson, Bradley Carey, J. Schuneman. — 57. 

Nays. — Samuel Earned, Elijah Phillips, Vivus W. Smith, 
Isaac T. Minard, Eli H. Sherman, Elihu L. Phillips, Nelson 
D. Phillips, Ziba Cogswell, Wm. W. Teall, Isaac Stanton, 
Paschal Thurber, Zebina Dwight, B. F. Topliff, Stephen V. 
R. Yan Heusen, Horace Butts, John Phillips, Joel Cody, 
C. White, Cha's Goings, E. Wynkoop, Daniel Groff, Wm. 
Jackson, A. C. Morehouse, W. Hamilton, Nathan Killmar, 
Ab'm Killmar, Aaron Wood, Henry Newton, Lyman Be- 
ment, John H. Johnson, Mather Williams, Lewis H. Redfield, 
Rob't W. Nolton, John B. Wicks, Julius J. Wood, E. D. 
Long, H. P. Hart, Henry Agnew, James Huff, Charles A. 



OAKW0OD CEMETERY. 67 

Baker, Joseph Slocum, H. Snow, E. B. Wicks, John Newell, 
Benjamin B. Bacheller, Amos P. Granger, Silas Ames, W. 
Paine, John Tripp, Caleb Davis, Geo, H. Booth, Timothy C. 
Cheney, Alex. McKinstry, Archibald L. Fellows, Davitl A. 
Smith, John Murphy, T. G. Griffith, W. Y. Wilson, Pliny 
Dickinson, Zaccheus T. Newcomb, Theodore Ashley, Orrin 
Hutchinson, Wm. Tousley, Hiram Judson, Richard Raynor, 
Andrew IS". Yan Patten, C. Tyler Longstreet, Zophar H. Ad- 
ams, Elijah T. Hayden, Willet Raynor, Montgomery Mer- 
rick, Jonathan Baldwin, Wm. B. Abbott, B. G. Stafford, Tho's 
T. Davis, B. Wiesmore, M. Phillips, Amos Story, A. Durn- 
ford.— 79. 



APPENDIX G 



ACT AS TO INCORPORATIONS. 



ARTICLE FIRST. 1 



Of Mural Cemetery Associations.'] 

Sbc. 1. Associations may be formed; their style; trustees and their classification- 
2. Certificate of incorporation to be made and recorded. 
8. Oh recording it corporation formed. 

4. It may acquire and hold not exceeding 200 acres of land ; to be surveyed. 

&c. ; sale of plats; may hold personal property. 

5. Election of trustees. 

6. Trustees to report annually. 

7. Lots to be indivisible ; agreement as to payment for lands. 

8. Consent of boards of supervisors, in the counties of Westchester, Kings 

and Qneens, necessary to possession of land for cemetery purposes. 

9. Certain ecclesiastical corporations in said counties allowed to use buri- 

al grounds as formerly. 

10. Boards of supervisors of said counties to make regulations concerning 

burials in cemeteries. 

11. Incorporations desiring to use lands for cemeteries, required to give no- 

tice of application to supervisors ; contents of notices ; proceed- 
ings to be had. 

12. Sections 1 and 2 of act apply to associations heretofore and hereafter 

formed. 

13. Penalty for willful trespasses to grounds, &c. 

14. Association may hold property in trust for embellishment of cemetery. 

15. Cemetery exempt from taxation; not liable to sale on execution; streets 

not to be laid through it. 

16. Transfers of lots to individuals; to be inalienable in eertain cases; sale 

of lots to be made without filing map of lot. 

17. The legislature may alter or repeal this act. 

18. Amendment of fifth section. 

19. Proviso as to associations already formed. 

corpora- *§1. Any number of persons residing in this State, 

lions how — 

becrea- no |. ] ess ^ ian se ven, who shall desire to form an asso- 
ciation for the purpose of procuring and holding lands 
to be used exclusively for a cemetery, or place of bu- 

lThis article consists of chapter 138 of the Laws of 1847, entitled "An act au- 
thorizing the incorporation of rural cemetery associations," with the acts since 
passed amending it. The original numbering of the sections is retained within 
brackets where practicable. 



ted 



OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 69 

rial for the dead, may meet at such time and place as 
they or a majority of them may agree, and appoint a 
chairman and secretary by the vote of a majority of 
the persons present at the meeting ; and proceed to 
form an association by determining on a corporate 
name, by which the association shall be called and 
known ; by determining on the number of trustees to 
manage the concerns of the association, which num- 
ber shall not be less than six nor more than twelve ; 
and thereupon may proceed to elect by ballot the num- 
ber of trustees so determined on ; and the chairman 
and secretary shall immediately after such election, 
divide the trustees by lot into three classes ; those in 
the first class to hold their office one year, those in the 
second class two years, and those in the third class 
three years. But the trustees of each class may be 
re-elected if they shall possess the qualification here- 
inafter mentioned. The meeting shall also determine 
on what day in each year, the future annual elections 
of trustees shall be held. 

*§2. The chairman and secretary of the meeting ^'incor- 
poration . 
shall, within three days after such meeting, make a 

written certificate, and sign their names thereto, and 
acknowledge the same before an officer authorized to 
take proof and acknowledgment of conveyances in 
the county where such meetfng shall have been held, 
which certificate shall state the names of the associ- 
ates who attended such meeting; the corporate name 
of the association, determined upon by the majority 
of the persons who met ; the number of trustees fixed 



70 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

on to manage the concerns of the association ; the 
names of the trustees chosen at the meeting and their 
classification, and the day fixed on for the annual elec- 
tion of trustees ; which certificate it shall be the duty 
of the chairman and secretary of such meeting to cause 
to be recorded in the clerk's office of the county in 
which the meeting was held, in a book to be appro- 
priated to the recording of certificates of incorpora- 
tion. 
General *p. Upon such certificate, duly acknowledged as 
aforesaid being recorded, the association mentioned 
therein shall be deemed legally incorporated, and shall 
have and possess the general powers and privileges, 
and be subject to the liabilities and restrictions con- 
tained in the third title of the eighteenth chapter of 
part first of the Eevised Statutes. Ihe affairs and 
property of such association shall be managed by the 
trustees, who shall annually appoint from among their 
number a president and a vice-president, and shall al- 
so appoint a secretary and a treasurer, who shall hold 
their places during the pleasure of the board of trus- 
tees ; and the trustees may require the treasurer to 
give security for the faithful performance of the du- 
in V officeo 7 f ties of his office ; and shall have power to fill any va- 

president 

or vice- cancy in the office of president or vice-president oc- 

l>resident. ./ i i 

curring during the year*for which they hold their of- 
fice. [As amended 1852, ch. 2S0, §2.] 

Land may „_ ' ... , , , . 

be pur- *§4. Any association incorporated under this act, 

cemeteries ma y ^^ke ^ purchase or devise, and hold within the 

county in which the certificate of their incorporation 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 71 

is recorded, not exceeding two hundred acres ofland ; 
to be held and occupied exclusively for a cemetery 
for the burial of the dead. Such land or such parts 
thereof, as may from time to time be required for that 
purpose, shall be surveyed and subdivided into lots or 
plats of such size as the trustees may direct, with such 
avenues, paths, alleys and walks as the trustees deem 
proper ; and a map or maps of such surveys shall be 
filed in the clerk's office of the county in which the 
land shall be situated. And after filing such map, tha 
trustees may sell and convey the lots and plats desig- 
nated on such map, upon such terms as shall be agreed, 
and subject to such conditions and restrictions to be 
inserted in or annexed to the conveyances, as the trus- 
tees shall prescribe. The conveyances to be executed 
under the common seal of the association, and signed 
by the president or vice-president and the treasurer 
of the association. Any association incorporated un- 
der this act may hold personal property to an amount 
not exceeding five thousand dollars, besides what may 
arise from the sale of lots or plats. 

*§5. The annual election for trustees to supply the g^jj^ 
place of those whose term of office expires shall be 
holden on the day mentioned in the certificate of in- 
corporation, and at such hour and place as the trus- 
tees shall direct ; at which election shall be chosen 
such number of trustees as will supply the places of 
those whose term expires. The trustees chosen at any 
election subsequent to the first shall hold their places 
for three years and until others shall be chosen to sue- 



72 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 

ceed them. The election shall be by ballot, and eve- 
ry person of full age who shall be proprietor of a lot 
or plat in the cemetery of the association containing 
not less than two hundred square feet of land, or if 
there be more than one proprietor of any such lot or 
plat then such one of the proprietors as the majority 
see post of joint proprietors shall designate to represent such 
lot or plat, may either in person or by proxy give one 
vote for each plat or lot of the dimensions aforesaid ; 
and the persons receiving a majoity of all the votes 
given at such election shall be trustees to succeed 
those whose term of office expires. But in all elections 
after the first the trustees shall be chosen from among 
the proprietors of lots or plats ; and the trustees shall 
have power to fill any vacancy in their number occur- 
ring during the period for which they hold their office. 
Public notice of the annual elections shall be given in 
such manner as the by-laws of the corporation shall 
prescribe. [As amended 1851, ch. 358, §1.] 

Trustees *§6. The trustees at each annual election shall make 

to report , „,.-.. 

reports to the lot proprietors of their doings and of 
the management and condition of the property and 
concerns of the association. If the annual election 
shall not be held on the day fixed in the certificate 
of incorporation the trustees shall have power to ap- 
point another day, not more than sixty days thereaf- 
ter, and shall give public notice of the- time and place, 
at which time the election may be held with like ef- 
fect as if holden on the day fixed on in the certificate. 
The office of the trustees chosen at such time to expire 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 73 

at the same time as if they had been chosen at the day 
fixed by the certificate of incorporation. 

*§7. All lots or plats of ground designated on the J£ e 8 d on" 
maps filed as aforesaid and numbered thereon as sep- separate 

1 L lots to be 

arate lots by the incorporation shall be indivisible bttt indiTisiW8 
may be held and owned in undivided shares ; but any 
lots or plats so designated and numbered remaining 
unsold and in which there shall have been no inter- 
ment may by order of the trustees be resurveyed, en- 
larged, subdivided or altered in shape or size, and de- 
signated by numbers or otherwise on any map or 
maps which may be filed pursuant to the fourth sec- 
tion of the act hereby amended ; one-half at least of 
the proceeds of all sales of lots or plats shall be first 
appropriated to the payment of the purchase money 
of the lands acquired by the association until the 
whole purchase money shall be paid, and the residue 
thereof to preserving, improving and embellishing 
the said cemetery grounds and the avenues or roads 
leading thereto, and to defray the incidental expenses 
of the cemetery establishment ; and after the payment 
of the purchase money and the debts contracted there- 
for and for surveying and laying out the land, the pro- 
ceeds of all future sales shall be applied to the im- 
provement, embellishment and preservation of such 
cemetery and for incidental expenses, and to no other 
purpose or object. 

Associations formed under this act may also agree Mieement 
with the person or persons from whom cemetery lands ment fat' 
shall be purchased, to pay for such lands as the pur- 



74 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

chase price thereof any specified share or portion not 
exceeding one-half the proceeds of all sales of lots 
or plats made from such lands, in which case the share 
or portion of such proceeds so agreed upon, not ex- 
ceeding one-half thereof, shall be first appropriated 
and applied to the payment of the purchase money of 
the lands so acquired, and the residue thereof shall 
be appropriated to preserving, improving and embel- 
lishing the said cemetery grounds and the avenues 
or roads leading thereto, and to defraying the inciden- 
tal expenses of the cemetery establishment. In all 
cases where cemetery lands shall be purchased and 
agreed to be paid for in the manner hereinbefore last 
provided the prices for lots or plats specified in the by- 
laws, rules and regulations first adopted by any such 
association shall not be changed without the written 
consent of a majority in interest of the persons from 
whom the cemetery lands were purchased, their heirs, 
representatives or assigns. [As amended 1852, eh. 280, 
§1, and 1853, ch. 122, §1.] 
ofTupTrvi- *§8. It shall not be lawful for any rural cemetery, 

visors ne- 
cessary to hereafter incorporated under the act hereby amended, 

possession *■ J 

of land - to take by deed, devise or otherwise, any land in either 
of the counties of Westchester, Kings or Queens, or 
set apart any ground for cemetery purposes therein, 
without the consent of the board of supervisors of such 
county first had and obtained as provided for by this 
act ; nor shall it be lawful for any person or incorpo- 
ration not incorporated under said act, to take as afore- 
said or set apart or use any land or ground in either 
of said counties for cemetery purposes, without the 






OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 75 

consent of the board of supervisors of such county first 
had and obtained in like manner as provided for in 
this act ; and said board of supervisors in granting 
such consent may annex thereto such conditions, reg- 
ulations and restrictions as such board may deem the 
public health or the public good to require. [1852, ch. 
280, §3, as amended 1854, ch. 238, §1.] 

*§9. Nothing contained in the preceding section EcclC8iag . 

• • tical cor- 

shall prevent any ecclesiastical incorporation now or- ^ama 
ganized in either of said counties from using any bu-g^™™ 1 

. as former- 

rial ground now belonging to it within such county, iy. 

as it has been heretofore accustomed. [1854, ch. 238, 

§2.] 

*S10. The board of supervisors of each of said coun- supervi- 

1 sors to 

ties is authorized to make from time to time, such reg- "Ins- 
ulations as to the mode of burials in any cemetery 
within their bounds as they shall judge the public 
health or public decency to require, and it shall not 
be lawful to disobey such regulations. [Same ch.. §3.] 

*§11. Any such incorporation desiring to use any Whp|i jn 
lands for cemetery purposes, or take a conveyance uoTde" 

sires to 

thereof, shall cause notice to be published once a week j™"** 
for six weeks in every newspaper published in the n^tLF™ 
county in which such lands are situated, of their in- 
tention to apply to the board of supervisors of such 
county, stating the time at which such application 
will be made for the consent mentioned in the first 
section of this act. Such notice shall contain a brief 
description of the lands for which such consent is ask- 
ed, and also their location and the number of acres. 



76 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 



At such meeting upon due proof of the publicatio n 
of the notice above mentioned the applicants and re- 
monstrants, if any, may be heard in person and by 
counsel, and thereupon if such board shall grant con- 
sent, it shall be lawful for such incorporation to take 
and hold the lands designated in such consent not ex- 
ceeding two hundred and fifty acres in any county. 
[1852, ch. 280, §4.] 

Stakes 8 *§i& This act shall take effect immediately, and 
Parts* to the first and second sections hereof shall apply as well 

apply to i r j 

u^nfhere- *° associations heretofore organized as to such as may 
hereafter be hereafter. [1852, ch. 280, §5.1 

formed L ' ' * J 

Penalty. *§13. [Sec. 8.] Any person who shall wilfully de- 
stroy, mutilate, deface injure or remove any tomb, 
monument, grave stone, building or other structure, 
placed in any cemetery of any association incorpora- 
ted under this act, or any fence, railing or other work 
for the protection or ornament thereof, or of any tomb, 
monument, or grave stone, or other structures aforesaid, 
or of any plat or lot within such cemetery, or shall 
wilfully destroy, cut, break or injure any tree, shrub 
or plant, within the limits of such cemetery, shall be 
deemd guilty of a misdemeanor; and such offender 
shall also be liable in an action of trespass, to be 
brought in all such cases in the name of such associ- 
ation, to pay all such damages as shall have been oc- 
casioned by his unlawful act or acts. Such money 
when recovered shall be applied by the trustees to the 
reparation or restoration of the property so destroyed 
or injured. 



0AKW00D CEMETERY. 



77 



*§14. [Sec. 9.] Any association incorporated pursn- m r a y P be y 
ant to this act may take and hold any property, real trust for 

J •> * L * ' improving 

or personal, bequeathed or given upon trust, to apply cemeter y- 
the income thereof under the direction of the trus- 
tees of such association, for the improvement or em- 
bellishment of such cemetery or the erection or pres- 
ervation of any buildings, structures, fences or walks 
erected or to be erected upon the lands of such cem- 
etery association, or upon the lots or plats of any of 
the proprietors ; or for the repair, preservation, erec- 
tion or renewal of .any tomb, monument, grave-stone, 
fence, railing or other erection in or around any cem- 
etery lot or plat ; or for planting and cultivating trees, 
shrubs, flowers or plants in or around any such lot or 
plat ; or for improving or embellishing such cemetery 
in any other manner or form, consistent with the de- 
sign and purposes of the associati©n according to the 
terms of such grant, devise or bequest. 

*§15. [Sec. 10.] The cemetery lands and property c « met ^y 
of any association formed pursuant to this act, shall nabieTo 

o ■> be sold. 

be exempt from all public taxes, rates and assessments, 
and shall not be liable to be sold on execution, or be 
applied in payment of debts due from any individual 
proprietors. But the proprietors of lots or plats in 
such cemeteries, their heirs or devisees may hold the 
same exempt therefrom so long as the same shall re- 
main dedicated to 'the purpose of a cemetery, and du- 
ring that time no street, road, avenue or thoroughfare 
shall be laid through such cemetery, or any part of 
the lands held by such association for the purposes 



78 OAK WOOD CEMETERY. 

aforesaid, without the consent of the trustees of such 
association, except by special permission of the legis- 
lature of the state. 
Transfer *§16. [Sec. 11.] Whenever the said land shall be 
piats toTn- laid off into lots or plats, and such lots or plats or any 

dividuals. r r J 

of them shall be transferred to individual holders, and 
after there shall have been an interment in a lot or 
plat so transferred, such lot or plat from the time of 
such first interment shall be forever thereafter inalien- 
able, and shall upon the death of the holder or pro- 
prietor thereof descend to the heirs at law of such 
holder or proprietor, and to their heirs at law forever: 
Provided, nevertheless, that any one or more of such 
heirs at law may release to any other of the said heirs 
at law, his, her or their interest in the same on such 
conditions as shall be agreed on and specified in such 
release, a copy of which release shall be filed with the 
town clerk of the town or the register of the city 
within which the said cemetery shall be situated. — 
And provided further, that the body of any deceased 
person shall not be interred in such lot or plat unless 
it be the body of a person having at the time of such 
decease an interest in such lot or plat, or the relative 
of some person having such interest, or the wife of 
such person or her relative, except by the consent of 
all persons having an interest in such lot or plat. 

rfaieofiotg It shall be lawful for the trustees of any cemetery 

to be made 

ung map 1 " association to sell and convey lots and plats of ground 
within the cemetery limits as shown on the map of 
the same, filed in the office of the clerk of the coun- 



OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 79 

ty wherein the same may be situated, without previ- 
ously filing in the said clerk's office a map of each lot 
so intended to be conveyed ; provided, however, that Proviso, 
the said corporation shall preserve a map of each lot 
and plat conveyed, and on which shall be designated 
the number thereof. [As amended 1853, ch. 122, §1.] 

*§17. [Sec. 12.] The legislature may at any time 
alter or repeal this act. repeaL 

*§18. The fifth section of the act entitled " An act Amend- 

c ment. 

authorizing the incorporation of rural cemetery asso- 
ciations," passed April twenty-seventh, one thousand 
eight hundred and forty-seven, is hereby amended by 
striking out the word "four," and insert "two," in 
the eleventh line of said section, so that hereafter any 
person owning two hundred square feet of land in any 
cemetery association shall be entitled to vote for the 
election of the trustees of said association. [1851, ch. 
358, §1.] 

*§19. Nothing contained in this act shall affect anv 

° & J Proviso. 

rural cemetery association which shall have been or- 
ganized under the act hereby amended before this act 
shall take effect. [Same ch., §2.] 






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